


G is for Gruesome

by spookyawards_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Investigations, Long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-12
Updated: 2003-01-12
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:54:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 33,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14419092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyawards_archivist/pseuds/spookyawards_archivist
Summary: A serial murder is discovered.  Our dynamic duo is called in to examine the occult evidence.  All Hollows' Eve is approaching and time is running out.  Emotions run high and when they take a break one night to be normal people while their guards are down, something wonderful happens.





	G is for Gruesome

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Spooky Awards](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Spooky_Awards), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [SpookyAwards' collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/spookyawards/profile).

 

G is for Gruesome

## G is for Gruesome

### by Donnilee
    
    
    TITLE:      G is for Gruesome
    AUTHOR:     Donnilee
    RATING:     NC-17 
    

WARNING: Descriptive sex. Smut warning. **CATEGORY: MSR**

DISCLAIMER: nope. Not mine. Used shamelessly and without remorse. They belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting, and god knows who else, but not me. The characters of Agents Simpson, Cooley, Bradford and Mangor are made up by me. The show 'America's Most Wanted' is mentioned here without permission, as well as the reference to the Beatles tune, 'Twist and Shout'. 

SPOILERS: Nothing special. Tiny ones here and there. Everything is fair game except that Requiem never happened. 

SUMMARY: A serial murder is discovered. Our dynamic duo is called in to examine the occult evidence. All Hollows' Eve is approaching and time is running out. Emotions run high and when they take a break one night to be normal people while their guards are down, something wonderful happens. 

NOTE: I did not set this in a specific town as I wouldn't want to insult anyone from any specific "little town" in West Virginia, or get them nervous for that matter. Therefore, I have used the term "Rural West Virginia" and hope that the reader will accept the convention. The town is not important, just the setting. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THE NEW LEXICON WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY Grue-some (gru:sem) adj. ghastly, sickening, revolting, esp. associated with blood and mutilation, a gruesome murder [Dan. grusome, cruel] 

* * *

* * *

**G IS FOR GRUESOME**

**PART 1 - PG-13**

**THURSDAY EVENING**  
**LOCKHART FARM**  
**OCTOBER 27, 2000 - 7:00 PM**

I was standing in the doorway of a barn in rural West Virginia. Crime scene tape roped off the entire building. Pegged and roped areas in squares 10 feet by 10 feet were dotting the property surrounding the barn for an acre. Five different forensics teams were digging carefully in each square, unearthing the remains of human beings. There was no telling how many there would be before we were through. The count was up to 42 and growing and they were only about three quarters through digging the area. 

Mulder walked up behind me placing his hands on my shoulders. "How you holding up?" I tipped my head back till the crown of my head was leaning on his chest and peered up at him. 

"Each body looks more gruesome than the last. I'm beat." He smiled that toothy smile at me that always makes my chest cavity constrict alarmingly. 

"Me too. I think we've had enough for one day and you're going to be in the autopsy bay for days once they get this finished up. Time to take a break. We're going back to the hotel. I'm taking you out to dinner at Aldo's and then we are taking tomorrow off." 

I stood up straight and spun around to face him. "Oh we are, are we?" 

"Yes we are. I already called and cleared it with Skinner." 

"And he didn't have a problem with this?" 

"No. Said he got a call from the Director about us." 

"The Director?" 

"Yes. Seems the police department is flooding them with reports of the wonderful job we are doing out here. Seems they crowed about a certain Agent Scully under A.D. Skinner who swooped in here and figured out what had four other top agents scratching their heads over. So Skinner thought that we deserved a day off. Plus he knew that we will be busy for the next few days anyway. This thing is huge and it's not going anywhere." He paused. "I'm really proud of you, you know. Proud to be your partner." 

He was beaming me another delighted smile and I couldn't help but smile back, shaking my head at the absurdity of it. "The door swings both ways, Mulder." 

"Good, now that the mutual admiration society has said its piece." 

I laughed at that. I loved when we could toss humor back and forth. He was much better at it than me, but he didn't seem to mind if my responses were sometimes lame. "O.K., so dinner, are you buying?" 

"You bet." 

"Aldo's?" 

"It's an Italian place in town. I've been told it has great food." 

"Expensive?" 

"Very." 

I smiled wide now. "Ooh, I like it when you spend money on me." 

"Do you?" 

"Yes, I do. I figure you miss all my birthdays so you have to make up for it somehow." 

"I didn't miss your birthday again, did I?" 

"No, you didn't, I'm just teasing." 

He leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I like it when you tease me." 

I shivered in spite of my effort not too and backed away from him. His proximity could be a dangerous thing. Especially when I was tired and couldn't keep my walls up. "Let's go, Mulder, feed me." 

He laughed and put his hand on the small of my back, steering me out to the car. 

* * *

**RURAL WEST VIRGINIA**  
**MONDAY EVENING, THREE DAYS EARLIER**  
**OCTOBER 23, 2000 - 10:00 AM**

The TV program, 'America's Most Wanted' had run a program on unsolved disappearances in the area, one being of two teenage girls who had gone out for a walk one night and never returned. As usual, the host had asked that anyone having any information on these girls to call the '800' number given on the program. 

One call came in. It was a from a young man, age undetermined who wouldn't give his name. But he said that a 'friend' of his father's who lived over in the next county had visited one day and some pictures had fallen out of his wallet when he opened it to give his father some money for beer. The man had snatched the pictures out of his hand when he had picked them up off the floor. The kid, probably only 16 or 17 was sure that one of the pictures was of Amy Syberling, the girl shown on the program. He gave the man's name and the town in which he lived and hung up. No address, no description, nothing else. 

Operators from the show had immediately called the police department and played the recording of the telephone call. Four troopers in two squad cars had gone out to the farm where the man resided. They knew who he was. Upon arrival, no one was home so they decided to do a little snooping. Without a warrant, they couldn't enter the old plantation style two-story farmhouse or the barn for that matter. But a bloody shovel leaning against the barn gave them probable cause. They confiscated the shovel and went to the courthouse. Armed with that evidence and the telephone call, the judge issued an immediate search warrant for the entire property. The dried blood on the shovel was tested at a lab and it was human. Now moo cow blood here. 

They returned and entered the home, which was ironically unlocked. Apparently Mr. Lockhart didn't get a lot of company. Shock turned to outrage when they found a shoeboxes full of pictures under his bed. All the pictures were of young boys and girls in various states of dress and nudity. All were tied up in different positions and were brutalized, some with instruments such as candle sticks and knives, and whips. He had raped them all, boys and girls alike. He had pictures of it all. 

The pictures were taken back to the police station and the FBI was called in. The chief of police was shaken and knew that this investigation was beyond the scope of what they could handle, having only four deputies. In addition, they wanted access to the FBI database. All the pictures were run through the database and out of 200 pictures of some 50 different girls and boys, 35 had been identified, at least ten from other states. This immediately gave the FBI jurisdiction. 

The police did not return to the farmhouse. They didn't want to alarm the guy into bolting if he did return home. Four FBI agents specializing in serial murder went to the property and had a look see. They found intricate ritual paraphernalia and a huge alter in the back room of the barn. Bloody meat hooks and a full set of surgeons scalpels were also located in the draws of desk in the barn. Wasn't looking good so far. One little hitch. No bodies. 

The agents were uneducated about the occult and so a call was placed to A.D. Skinner to ask for the assistance of "those weird X-File agents that know about this crap. Spooky and his side-kick." Nice huh? Now I'm his fucking side-kick! Anyway, Mulder happened to be out of town packing up his mother's house in Chilmark getting it ready to sell. So I went on ahead, telling Skinner that I would call when I checked out the scene and get back to him on whether to bother calling Mulder in or not. I asked that the agents rope off the barn before I got there and not let anyone in so the evidence wouldn't be disturbed. 

* * *

**WEDNESDAY MORNING**  
**LOCKHART FARM**  
**OCTOBER 25, 2000 - 10:00 AM**

I arrived only to be met by Simpson and the Rat Pack as I call them. Agents Simpson, Cooley, Bradford and Mangor. I knew these agents by reputation and they thought they were hot shit. Apparently not hot shit enough to figure this one out though. I just hoped that I could handle this without Mulder. I was still insecure sometimes about my ability to ferret out the nuances of some of the weirder crime scenes. Mulder had an uncanny knack for it that would make anyone feel inadequate. But I'd be damned if I'd let any of these peacocks know that. 

Simpson greeted me as I got out of the car. "Ahh, Mrs. Spooky has arrived. Glad you could join us." I immediately gave him the blankest look I could muster. He mumbled, "Uh, sorry, Dana is it?" 

"Agent Scully to you." He at least had the decency to look chagrined for about five seconds. 

"Sorry, Agent Scully. Um, well, let's have a look, shall we?" I nodded and followed him into the barn, with his barnacles following behind us. I snickered to myself. That was a good way to think of them. Barnacle Cooley, Barnacle Bradford and Barnacle Mangor. Simpson seemed to talk for all of them. 

I took one look and knew that I needed Mulder's help. I'd seen crude satanic altars, black magic symbols, upside down crosses and all that stuff, and knew what most of it meant. But what I saw here was way beyond me, except I knew some of it was Voodoo. I put on my inquisitive look and took notes on everything I saw there, writing down the details. Trying to sound knowledgeable I said, "Definitely Voodoo Veve's. That much I knew. But what they meant was mystery for Mulder to solve. 

I asked Simpson to call the police and get someone down here with a camera and get a sample of the blood off the meat hooks. That would need to be tested. I cringed knowing it was going to turn out to be human. I couldn't believe they hadn't done that already. They must have missed the class called 'Evidence 101'. Thou shalt test every drop of blood found at a crime scene. Simpson looked at me strangely but left to do as I asked and I wandered outside. 

I was perusing the area around the barn when my eye caught on a patch of ground that just didn't look right. As I looked closer, the entire area didn't look right. The grass was too lush and green, too even, too symmetrical. I walked around a bit with the barnacles trailing behind me, peering at my every move as if I was about to start waving my arms and chanting. 

I gave them a dirty look and they backed off from following me around like a mother goose with her goslings, but they watched me from the barn door. I squatted down when I saw a seam in the grass. I pulled my Swiss army knife out and stuck it in the grass and peeled back a section of grass. Handy little thing. Mulder had bought it for me and I can't count the number of times this knife has come in handy. It was sod. Bought, prepackaged in nice little squares and laid out so tightly and neatly that no one had even noticed. None of it had taken root, so it had been recently laid down. The area around barns is generally torn up, dirt ground and dusty. If there is any grass then it's spotty. When grass is this lush, it usually means no one's been in the barn for a good long time and this one was obviously in use. 

I groaned as the implications hit me. "Oh my God! So obvious!" I looked up to see the other agents hurrying in my direction. They'd heard me groan and my little declaration. 

Simpson was leading the pack. I call them a pack because that's what they reminded me of, a dog pack. They gang up on others and take them down. I stood up and waited for them to reach me. Simpson looked at me and asked, "What's obvious? You found something?" 

"Yes." 

"What?" 

"This whole area of ground is a cover, it's sod." 

"So?" 

I just started barking orders. "Get an excavation team and a forensics team out here pronto. Call the police to come with stakes and crime scene tape and rope off 10 foot squares." 

"Agent Scully, with all due respect, I can't call those teams out here without a damn good explanation. It costs a lot of money for those people. My boss with freak if I call them out here and we don't find anything. My ass will be chewed royally if I don't lose my job all together." 

I looked him in the eye. "Simpson, I promise you they will find something. I suspect that they will find lots of something's. In fact, I'm fairly sure that what they find will sew Mr. Lockhart into a lifetime behind bars if not get the animal exterminated. If we can find him, that is." 

He was looking at me queerly now as if I was fairly arrogant to be making such assumptions. "Oh really! And just what do you think they're going to find? Voodoo dolls?" 

I'd had it with their patronizing at this point. It had been going on since I arrived. I gave him what Mulder calls my death-stare. "No, Agent Simpson, they will find bodies, LOTS of them." I couldn't resist throwing out one insult. After all, he'd thrown enough my way. "Sorry to say this boys, but you should have figured this out." 

"Figured what out?" asked one of the barnacles. 

I gave them my best exasperated look. "We are standing on a FUCKING GRAVE YARD, you geniuses!" 

They all got that wonderful wide-eyed look that idiots get when they realize that they've been had and overlooked something really obvious. No one was responding to my comment. "Simpson, get the teams out here or I will, but I assume you want credit for this and personally, I don't give a damn. And get some rookies out here to guard the barn. I don't want anyone inside that barn until my partner gets here." 

"You're calling in Spooky?" 

"No, you called in Spooky, if you remember correctly. And his name is Agent Mulder by the way. He went through the academy just like you, AGENT Simpson. So even if you don't understand what we do, that doesn't mean that you don't owe him the same respect you owe any other agent. And how was it you put it? What was it A.D. Skinner told me? You requested 'those WEIRD X-File agents that know about this CRAP! Spooky and his SIDE-KICK!" 

A look of horror came over his face at knowing that his exact words had been communicated to me. "Agent Scully, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you." 

"Then you shouldn't have said it, you arrogant shit!" 

"You're right." 

I nodded at him sharply. "I do my job the same as any of you! I was assigned to the X-Files by my superiors and I do the best job I know how! And just for your information, I'm nobody's FUCKING SIDE-KICK! I went through the academy too in case that little nugget of information escapes you! I am Agent Mulder's equal partner. I don't appreciate being called out here and then ridiculed." I was getting that righteous indignation I got when people questioned my competence. I knew it was stupid and these idiots weren't worth it, but sometimes it just got to be too much and I couldn't stand it. 

He actually looked embarrassed. Although I couldn't tell if he was embarrassed by his actions, or just that he'd been caught. "I'm sorry, Agent Scully, it won't happen again." 

I stared at him for a moment, letting him sweat it out. "Apology accepted. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get to work!" 

He nodded and turned to the Barnacles and began delegating all the instructions I'd given him. I just shook my head and headed for the car. I hollered to him over my shoulder. "I'm going back to town to get something to eat and call my partner and then I'll be back." 

He waved at me and I slid into the car, letting out a huge sigh. Why did working with other people always have to be so difficult? And I knew that I didn't get a tenth of the ridicule Mulder got. How the hell did he stand it? I started the car and peeled out of the driveway and headed back to town. 

I hit Speed Dial #1 on my cell phone and waited while it rang. 

"Mulder." 

"Mulder, it's me." 

"Hey, Scully, what's up?" 

"I'm afraid I need to interrupt your packing." 

"Oh, what's happening?" 

"I need you out here." 

"You need me? That's a switch." 

"Don't be a smart ass." 

He chuckled. "What do you need Scully?" 

"I need you to get on a plane and come to West Virginia." 

"What's in West Virginia?" 

"What I think is going to turn into an enormous crime scene, complete with instruments of torture and occult alters with voodoo veve's, the whole nine." 

"Sounds like a good one." 

"Depending on how you look at it. We are potentially looking at up to 50 victims here." 

"Whoa! Fifty victims!" 

"Yeah, we were called in for a command performance believe or not. The Rat Pack from Violent Crimes requested our presence." 

"Slime-ball Simpson ASKED for US?" 

"Yeah, well, don't get too excited. He's done nothing but insult me since I got here, regardless. But anyway, give Skinner a call and he can fill you in on the details. I looked at the alters and symbols and took notes and there is a photographer on his way out to capture everything. I should have the pictures by tomorrow morning. But I have no idea what half this stuff is. You probably will though." 

"Maybe, we'll see. I'm on my way, Scully." 

"Don't rush, we're in for the long haul with this one, I think. But it would be good if you could make it by tomorrow. I have them guarding the barn where all the stuff is, but I don't trust that it won't get mucked up with all the people that will be tromping through here shortly." 

"I'll be there tonight. I'm on my way, Scully. Besides, how can I turn my beautiful partner down when she actually breaks down and admits she needs my assistance." 

"Flattery will get you nowhere." 

"Ahh, but I can always hope, can't I?" 

"Good-bye, Mulder." 

"Bye, Scully, see you later." 

* * *

* * *

**PART 2 - R**

**THURSDAY EVENING**  
**ALDO'S ITALIAN EATERY**  
**WEST VIRGINIA**  
**OCTOBER 27, 2000 - 8:30 PM**

The restaurant was fabulous. Mulder looked so handsome in his brown sport coat over his tan turtleneck and brown chinos. Christ, the man in civilian clothes looked like he just stepped off the cover of Spiegel catalogue. I was wearing one of my suits. It's all I brought with me. It was light blue with a standard white blouse. The skirt though was particularly short, ending at mid-thigh. Any shorter and it would have been a mini skirt. I had caught him looking at my legs several times and got a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing I could make him look, that he noticed me as a woman and not just his partner. 

We were stuffing our faces on Fra Diavlo and good red wine. Being tired to begin with has made me a little giddy. I looked up to catch him staring at me. I held his gaze, wondering what he was looking at. After a minute he shook his head and lowered it to look at his plate, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. 

I had asked, "Mulder, what is going on in that bizarre head of yours? What was that look for?" 

He looked up smiling then and replied, "I am forming a plan." 

"A plan for what?" I had asked. 

"A plan to get you out on the dance floor." 

"Dance floor?" I had asked stupidly. 

He pointed. "Yeah, I'm sure you've heard of them. There happens to be one right over there." 

I was too tired to verbally spar with him and so said, "I'm tired, Mulder, give me a break." 

He had said, "Sorry, didn't mean to slip into sarcasm." 

I couldn't resist the tease that the time. "It comes naturally to you." 

"Thanks a lot!" he'd replied, good-naturedly. 

"No problem. You can count on me to point out the obvious." 

"Like you did to Simpson?" I nodded. 

Things had been really casual and easy between us lately. I don't really know when the shift occurred. But lately, he hadn't been running off without me. He had been attentive and understanding of my moods. And the most thrilling and disturbing thing was that he touched me a lot more than he used to. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Mulder was such a tactile person, I didn't want to read too much into it. I hadn't been this relaxed in a long time. There was a D.J. playing nice mellow music over on the opposite site of the room. There was a small half wall separating the dining area from the bar area where there was dance floor and a small stage. 

"So what is the plan?" 

"I was just going to ask you, but then I thought I might need to trick you, depending on what kind of mood you're in." 

"Trick me?" 

"Yeah, ya know, come up with a bet I can't possibly lose." 

"No such thing." 

He grinned. "So if I were to ask the most beautiful woman in the restaurant to dance with me, would she say yes?" 

"I don't know, you'd have to ask that brunette over there in the corner." I deadpanned. I loved it when he gave me compliments like that. They were always couched in innuendo and never quite direct. He knew that would be jarring to me. I wasn't ever going to admit it to him anyway. I did what I usually did and deflected it. I intentionally misunderstood him just to see what he would do. 

"Ahhh, why her? Have you telepathically relayed your answer to her?" 

I grinned now. "Yeah, that's me all over, telepathic and game player extraordinnaire!" 

He chuckled and then his smile faded and he caught my eyes again over the rim of my wineglass. "Would you dance with me, Dana?" 

I froze. He was really going to push this? He really wanted to dance? I thought he was just joking around with me. "Um, I don't know, you'd have to ask Scully." 

He broke out into another grin and sucked his lower lip into his top teeth and waggled his eyebrows at me. I couldn't help the smile that split across my face. "O.K., Miss Picky. Scully, would you dance with me?" 

"Why?" 

"Do I need a reason?" 

"I suppose not, but you rarely do anything just for the hell of it." 

He looked at me then as if deciding whether to say anything more. "Maybe I want to act like two regular human beings tonight. Maybe I just want to remember what it's like to relax and hold a beautiful woman in my arms while I dance with her. Maybe I'm tired of never having any fun. Maybe I should do more things just for the hell of it." 

He was dead serious now and getting upset. I wasn't really sure how that had happened so quickly. I couldn't stand it when he looked so dejected. It did something weird to me emotionally. I couldn't let him stay that way without trying to fix it. I never could. I suddenly realized he was sure I was going to duck out of it, find some excuse not to dance with him. And it hurt him. It was as if I was saying that he couldn't just dance with me and remain a gentleman. I was saying that I didn't trust him to have fun with me outside of work. We were supposed to be friends after all. And when had we ever just spent the day or evening doing something to put a smile on our face. We always seemed to think that we needed a reason to see each other outside of work. That was ridiculous of course, we were supposed to be friends. Friends don't need an excuse. 

I held up one finger. "Well, partner, if you promise not bend over top of me and break my back AND," I held up two fingers "you buy me dessert, I'll dance with you." 

His head snapped up, a tentative grin in on his face. "Deal. Would you like dessert before or after?" 

"Probably after. I think the D.J. quits playing in about a half an hour." 

He stood up and pushed in his chair and held his hand out to me. I stood and grabbed his hand. I was surprised when he laced his fingers through mine and tugged me gently, leading me across the restaurant towards the small dance floor. I wasn't oblivious to all the female heads turning to gawk at him as we swept by. His hand was large and warm and completely engulfed mine. He went up to the D.J. and leaned over whispering something to him. I saw the D.J. nod and Mulder spun around to lead me out into the middle of the floor. 

When we hit the middle of the little dance floor he spun around and gracefully pulled me into his body, wrapping his free arm around my waist and keeping a hold on my other hand. My free hand went to his shoulder. Only now he lowered our laced fingers to hang at our sides and brought them behind his back. My arm was dragged around his waist, whether it wanted to be or not. We were the only ones on the floor. 

I heard his request begin to play and smiled. It was Twist and Shout' by the Beatles. I'm not even sure how he did it but I was now molded to his body from my collarbone to my knees. It was more than a little disconcerting. His body heat washed over me as he began to sway, easily leading my body to follow his. He was so graceful. Most tall men were not. I couldn't remember if I'd ever really seen him dance. I didn't think so. He spun around in a circle quite gracefully, spinning on his heels. My body followed him without effort. The music was rhythmic, and we moved easily to the beat. 

As promised he stood straight up and never bent over. He spun me away from him and under his arm and spun me back to his body. Somehow, he twisted me behind his back in a kind of figure 8 move that left me spinning. But he just chuckled, caught me up and brought me back to his side, once again molding me against him as though we were two pieces of a puzzle. He mouthed the words to me, "You know you look so fine, look so fine, come on, come on, come on, baby now...." 

Too late, I realized he was sliding his hand down to the small of my back. Somehow one of his thighs had made it between my legs. His knees were bent and he was swaying his hips to the side, back and forth, holding my pelvis against him so I moved in perfect sync. 

Good lord! I don't know if he was meaning to, but this was becoming very arousing. "Twist and Shout, Twist and Shout." Yes, the man could twist. But instead of the traditional 'duck walk' twist he just kept spinning me around and swiveling our hips, mine pressed to his. I couldn't think about anymore. This felt too good. I felt a little wild and free and I just let myself go, letting the last of the tension in my body go and flowed with him around the little dance floor. His hips swirled in a circle, to the side, toward me and to the other side, all the while holding me to him. Then I felt his erection pressing into my belly and I gasped. I looked up at him and saw him smiling. I was about to pull away a bit when he spun quickly counter clockwise, pulling me slightly off balance. Before I knew what was happening, he had me in a full dip as the song ended, one arm supporting my shoulders, the other gripping my hip. 

Without my knowledge a small crowd had formed to watch us and they began clapping at the end of the song as I reached the bottom of the dip. His eyes were sparkling with child like joy and I couldn't help but smile in return. 

As he lifted me slowly out of the dip, his lips brushed sideways across mine, then back again. No pressure, just touching his lips to mine. It was so light and so soft, I might have wondered if it had happened, except for my body's unprecedented reaction. It felt like I flushed hot from the tip of my toes to the crown of my head. I looked at him, stunned. He gave me no time to react but spun my shoulders back toward the table and put his hand on the small of my back, steering me off the floor. I lurched away from the heat of his hand and strode quickly to the table. I heard him say, "Scul..." I didn't look back. 

I seemed to be in a sort of fog I couldn't break out of. He really hadn't done anything wrong. And the brush of his lips against mine was probably for the benefit of the audience, but good lord. Why did he have to do that? And why was I so flustered? It was no big deal. Who am I kidding. It's a huge deal. Why? Because in my secret little heart of hearts, I've always wanted him to just grab me and kiss me. Take the choice away from me. I've always wondered what it would be like to have all that Mulder 'passion' directed as me. I shivered at the thought of it. 

He held out my chair and I sat down and pulled in to the table to rest my elbows on the edge and put my face in my hands. It was a quick gesture but he saw it and wrapped both hands around my wrists as I went to lower my hands. 

"Mulder, what are you doing?" 

He bent down and I felt his hot breath tickle my ear. "Please don't be upset with me." I shivered, but couldn't think of anything to say. 

"I shouldn't have done that, particularly in front of those people. They may know who we are. I just got caught up in the moment, Scully. It was so much fun to dance with you." 

I sighed. "It's O.K., Mulder, I just didn't expect it, it unbalanced me there for a minute." 

He let go of my hands and slid his palms up to my shoulders and kneaded gently. I hummed in my throat. "You're really tense. Are you sure you're O.K.? I'm sorry, Scully." 

"Nothing to be sorry for, Mulder. Sit down. You still owe me dessert." 

He sat down in the chair adjacent to me instead of the one across from me like before. "Why are you sitting there?" 

He peered at my face. "Because I wanted a close-up." 

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Close-up?" 

"Mmm. I want to see if you really are O.K., or if you're fibbing to me." 

"And you can't tell that from across the table?" 

"Nope. I have to see your eyes, up close." He said this very quietly and I found I couldn't meet his gaze. 

"I'm fine, Mulder." 

"Then why can't you look at me." 

"Just let it go." 

"No." He caught my chin in two fingers and turned my head back to face him. He was wearing a sad little smile. "I wanted this evening to be so nice. Just R &R, ya know? We deserve it. I just blew it, didn't I? I made you all uncomfortable." 

"It's O.K., Mulder. Look, I don't want dessert, let's just go back to the hotel." 

"See, you want to leave because I made you uncomfortable. Fess up!" He was trying to tease me into an admission. 

I looked him in the eyes now. "No, I just don't want dessert. I have to watch my figure, you know?" 

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm always watching it for you." I knew my eyes got wide and a smirk appeared on my face, but I couldn't help it. I could usually tell when he was serious and when he was joking, but right now, I had no idea. "You can't fool me, Scully. You're uncomfortable now and you are going to run as far away from me as quickly as you can so you can regroup and build your walls up again." 

"Walls? What are you talking about?" 

"You were letting your hair down for a minute there. It was nice. I love feeling close to you. Now you're putting the wall back up. The one that keeps me from getting too close to you." 

I just looked at him, unsure how to respond. "Tell you what. Let's go back to the hotel, but we'll get some coffee and hang out together, O.K.? I'm not ready to end the evening yet. Besides, you bought me this delicious dinner, the least I can do is keep you company for a while, at least until I'm ready to sleep. But I want to be in some comfortable clothes." 

He smiled and nodded. "O.K., I'll settle for that." He waved to the waiter and our check was brought to the table. I was surprised when he whipped $170 in cash out and plunked it down on the table. 

"Mulder, you carry that kind of cash?" He just smiled at me. 

"Sometimes. I kind of planned this a little in advance." His eyes darted away from me. 

"How much in advance?" 

"Look, Scully, I hoped that Skinner would let us have a day. I wanted an evening out with you, so I brought money when I left Chilmark, O.K.? Just in case I was able to make it happen." 

"So this wasn't exactly a spur of the moment thing?" 

"Well, I did just call Skinner today." 

"But you were thinking about ..." 

"Taking you out on a date," he finished softly for me. "Yes." He just held my gaze looking a little afraid of what I was going to say. 

"Date?" 

"Bad choice of words." 

I really didn't have any idea what to say to that at this point. I was too burnt out to think about all the implications of this after the four days I'd just had. "Let's get out of here." 

I stood and we walked out to the car. He unlocked for me and I slid into the passenger seat and leaned my head against the backrest. 

My mind was spinning now. Mulder wanted to take me out on a date? Date? Was that just a slip of the tongue or did he actually mean, DATE. Oh God. I know he looks at me sometimes. I've caught him at it. But he never has said a word or acknowledged that I caught him. He's always throwing jokes and innuendo my way, flirting like crazy. But none of it has ever been serious. Has it? 

And if it was, what does that mean? What do I want it to mean? Oh I wish I wasn't so tired. Every time he touches me, my body reacts. Traitor! I'm not supposed to think about my partner this way! But he's sparked some longings in me, buried deep. Buried so deep, I forgot they were there. I buried them deep a long time ago because I didn't think it would ever be a possibility. And I didn't think that I should want certain things. It was against the rules. 

Rules. Rules. Rules. I've lived by the rules all my life and what has it gotten me? I'm tired, lonely and alone at 37 years old. I am successful though. Well, whoop-di-doo. Who cares if you have no one to share it with? I long for someone to cuddle up with at night on the couch and there's no one. I can't remember the last time that I kissed someone that made me feel beautiful and feminine like he did. Pathetic. Kissed? 

Christ, he didn't even really kiss me. Just brushed our lips lightly together and my whole body went into alert mode. What the hell would happen if he really kissed me? I squirmed in my seat as these thoughts chased each other around in my head. What would those large, warm hands feel like on other parts of my body? I shuddered. Apparently visibly because he just turned to look at me. 

"Are you cold, Scully?" 

"Huh? Oh no, I'm O.K." 

He returned his eyes the road and the rest of the five minutes trip was made in silence. I was burning with curiosity now. I wanted to feel beautiful. He'd said I was the most beautiful woman in the restaurant. I wanted to feel wanted. Who was I kidding? I wanted to feel wanted BY HIM. What the hell was the matter with me? I knew the answer to that question, I just didn't want to voice it aloud, even in my head. I know how I feel about Mulder. I've just never let myself really acknowledge it. That would make it real and I wasn't sure if I was ready to deal with the consequences yet. 

Oh, but the thoughts are coming anyway, aren't they Dana? And you're not stopping them as easily as you used to, either. I want my partner. No! I'm not supposed to want him. But I do. I think he's sexy. I do, damn him. When he touches me, I want more. Shit. Shit. Shit. Stop this. You may reading all this completely wrong. All this may be completely innocent on his part and you'll make an ass our of yourself if you think differently. 

But what if it wasn't innocent? What is he wants you too. I groan internally at that thought. I startle as I realize that the car is stopped, the engine is off and he is sitting beside me, silent, staring at me. I can feel him looking at me, like I always can. 

I open my eyes slowly and turn my head to look at him. Oh my God, did I groan out loud?! I think I did. Holy shit. The look on his face. I've never seen that look, but I know what it is. Oh yeah. I know what it is. I feel myself become aroused just seeing it. 

DESIRE. He isn't saying a word, he's just looking at me, blinking slowly. Then his voice sounds, loud in the silence of the car. It is rough with desire. "Let's go inside, Scully, before I do something you'll regret." 

"I'LL regret?" 

He nodded at me. "Yeah. I wouldn't regret it, but you probably would." With that he had spun around, opened the door and stepped out. 

Holy shit, I thought. Did he just imply what I think he just implied? Yes, indeed, I believed he had. What now? That was all I could think of. I got out of the car and began walking to the door to my hotel room. As usual it had a connecting door to Mulder's room. I kept my eyes on the ground as my mind swirled with random thoughts. 

Oh god, what did he want? What did I want? Do something I'll regret. Would I regret it? I remember the feel of his hard body pressed up against mine on the dance floor. I mentally stamped my feet. I was too mentally burnt out to deal with this. I was so frustrated. It had been so long since I'd been with someone. Would I ever be with anyone else? Everyone who had shown any interest in me, I had compared them to him and they had come up short. I wanted this. But was I ready for this? 

Oh shit, I had promised to have coffee with him. But I also said I had to change first. I needed a couple minutes to compose myself. I fumbled with the keys to the room. My hands were shaking and I dropped the key. "Damn it!" I shouted, in total frustration. I was mortified at the tears that I feel stinging behind my eyes. 

I bent down to scoop up the keys and stood up to feel his hand slide down my arms, grasp the key and fit it into the lock, turning it and pushing the door open. He stood behind me just barely touching me with his chest against my back. I stood there breathing hard, not daring to look at him. His voice was sad and regretful. "Scully, calm down. I'm not going to attack you. I can't even touch you now and you're like a skittish colt. Look, I've obviously upset you and that's the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted you to have a good time. That's all. If you don't want to see me anymore tonight, I understand. Come over if you want to, I'll get some coffee from room service." He had paused. "If you don't want to come over, that's O.K. too. Just ... please don't be angry with me." 

I am still looking into my hotel room. I can't bring myself to turn around and see his face. "I'm not angry. Thank you for a lovely dinner." 

"Yeah, you're welcome. Anytime, partner." And I heard him walk away down the sidewalk 10 feet and open his own door. I glance down the sidewalk and see him standing there, hand on his door looking at me. He turns away and walks inside, closing the door. But not before I saw the tear running down his cheek. 

* * *

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 67**  
**THURSDAY EVENING**  
**OCTOBER 27, 2000 - 10:00 PM**

I entered my room and closed the door, leaning back against it. Shit! Why was everything always so complicated with us? Why did every personal relationship I have turn out to be so difficult? Because I made it that way. I was waiting for the perfect man. I was always looking for the perfect opportunity, the perfect timing. And life just didn't work that way. 

Mulder was far from perfect, but he was head and shoulders above any other man I knew. His intellect, his perception, his tenderness, his friendship, his respect and compassion. All these things, combined with an incredible athlete's physique and a set of odd features that are incredibly handsome despite their individual quirkiness. The too large nose, the pouting lower lip, the uncooperative hair. Christ, he was a sexy man. 

But it was more than that. I began peeling off my suit and digging in my suitcase for some casual clothes, dressing in sweat pants and a tee shirt as I tried to think this through. There were several things going on here. The attraction thing was obvious. I knew that we had that magical thing they call chemistry, when two people just 'click'. It allows them to work together, play together, trade wits, and excite each other. He definitely was able to excite me; professionally, personally, sexually. 

But the other thing going on here was a base emotional thing. I cared for Mulder. I more than cared for Mulder. He was an integral part of my life. I had tried to imagine leaving him on a couple of occasions in the past and quickly came to the conclusion that I couldn't do it. I simply couldn't imagine my life without him in it. When we were split up and the X-Files was shut down, my life became one boring day that dragged into the next. I did nothing but wait for the chance to call him, talk to him, and talk about a case with him. It was a little ridiculous now that I thought about it, but it was also telling. Telling in that if I looked at it honestly, it clarified for me that Mulder was the man in my life. 

There was no other man of any significance in my life. We had been friends for years. But he had become more than that to me. Bit by bit, we shared pieces of our inner most secrets with each other. Little by little, we came to be as essential to one another as food and breathing. Life simply wasn't the same when we weren't together. And we both knew it. 

But what did that mean for me? Well, it meant that I needed to make a decision. No other man was going to replace Mulder in my life. Any other romantic interest that might come along would never tolerate the closeness of my relationship with Mulder. And I knew from experience that I was not willing to give him up, professionally or as a friend. And since no man had measured up to him since the day I met him, I had no reason to believe that anyone would in the future. 

So, I had a couple of options. I could leave things the way they were and we would hang in this limbo of close friendship that wants to be more. That would mean that I will never have another intimate loving relationship for the rest of my life. I would be settling for second best when I could have it all. Or, I could cross the line. I could spend time with him personally and 'let what happened, happen.' Whew! Why was I so nervous about that? 

I wasn't really concerned about the Bureau. I knew we could keep a personal relationship a secret. I had used that protocol bullshit as an excuse early on in our partnership to avoid facing the issue that I was becoming more and more attached to him. Most people sensed that we were close anyway. They didn't always understand it but they instinctively knew that we would defend each other viciously against outside forces. Many people have mistaken us for a couple because of the ease we have around each other. It's the ease of two people who know each other intimately. It's the ease of people who have no secrets between them. 

We were intimate in every way but one. We've been carrying on a subtle mental love affair for years. And if I was honest with myself, I wanted the rest of him. I wanted the physical. 

And I had to face it. I was a raving jealous bitch over both Diana and Phoebe. I had thought of Mulder as mine, and when they invaded our space I gotten very territorial and had no right to be. That could change. I could have a 'right' to be jealous if I wanted to make it happen. I was jealous because deep down inside, I knew that without the physical part of the relationship, someone could still take him away from me. Everyone needed intimacy eventually. And there were plenty of women out there willing to give him that. And that thought terrified me. 

I knew he could be mine, body and soul. I may have his soul already. I think he has mine. And if I was really honest with myself, he has my heart too. If we were intimate physically, I instinctively knew that nothing could pull him away from me. I would no longer need to be jealous because the one tool other women could use on him would be gone. 

The thought of him with another woman made me physically sick to my stomach. If I wanted him to be faithful to me then I had to arrange it so that he didn't have a reason to go anywhere else. I couldn't expect him to never have sex for the rest of his life. As it stood now, I had no right to ask for or even wish for him to be faithful. And what the hell was I denying myself for anyway? It wasn't like I could get pregnant. That thought had given me a little cringe of sadness. 

I would die for him. I would take a bullet for him in an instant. I have lied for him, I have hidden him out and I have dragged him back from near death on more than one occasion, all because of the simple fact that I couldn't live without him. I would not have gone to those heroic measures for anyone else. 

The last hurdle. Could I admit it to myself? If I couldn't admit it to myself, there is no point in going into that room. I knew how obsessive he was and I had no reason to believe he would be any less obsessive about me. He already was, so what's the difference? The truth was that I relished the attention he pays to me. I relished that he felt protective of me even though I railed against it out loud for the sake of dignity. The truth was, I'm in love with him and I wanted him to love me. Whoa. Double Whoa. I had said it, well, to myself anyway. Could I think it again? Yes. I was in love with Mulder. Holy shit. O.K. Cat's was out of the bag now. 

I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth a couple times trying to slow my heart rate down. I looked at the door and walked up to it. I was wearing a tee-shirt with no bra and old gray sweatpants. Real sexy. Well, he's seen me at my worst. I laid an ear to the door, resting and gathering my courage when I heard something. It sounded like a sniffle. 

I held my breath and listened. I could hear heavy open mouthed breathing. I couldn't mistake the next thing I heard. It was a sob and the sound of him blowing his nose. He uttered under his breath, "Damn it, Scully." 

Well, if I hadn't been decided before about entering that room. I was now. Cause you know what? I couldn't stand to see him hurting, physically or emotionally. I had to respond. Should I knock? The hell with it. I took a deep breath and opened the door carefully and peeked my head around the corner. He was sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands. There was a coffee service set up on a tray on his dresser. 

He heard the door creak and looked up abruptly, knocking the box of tissues onto the floor. His eyes were dry now but they were red around the rims. He'd definitely been crying. He looked at me for a few seconds and I entered the rest of the way and closed the door. He took a shaky breath and said, "I didn't think you were coming." 

"I wasn't sure if I was either." 

"It's been over an hour." 

"Has it? Sorry. I've been thinking." 

"Anything good?" 

"Don't know if it's good or bad, it just is." 

"Ahh." 

"Can I have some coffee?" 

"Oh sure. Sorry." He jumped up and went over to the service pouring my coffee and fixing it. He even knew how I liked my coffee. He poured himself one and returned, handing it to me. He gestured to the chair in the room, but I shook my head and gingerly crawled up onto the bed and leaned against the headboard, adjusting a pillow behind my back. 

I smiled at him. "Come on, sit down with me." 

He nodded and sat down, mimicking my position but staying well on his side. We sipped our coffee for a few minutes in silence. 

Finally, I said, "Mulder, we need to talk." 

"Look Scully, I don't know what I was thinking earlier. I wanted us to relax and have a good time." 

"I did have a good time." 

"Yeah, but I blew it in the end. I got too ... familiar, I guess. I'm not even sure what I did, but it obviously upset you and I'm sorry." 

"It did throw me, but not for the reason you think." 

"It was unprofessional right?" 

"Yes, but we weren't being professional there. We weren't on the job. We were being friends." 

He nodded. "That's what I wanted." He looked at me. "I wanted to have fun with you. We so rarely have any fun. I got you out there on the dance floor and I just got carried away." 

"You're a fabulous dancer." 

He smiled shyly. "Thanks." Then softly, "I have to be honest with you, Scully. It's time for me to come clean." 

I looked at him. "Go ahead." 

He frowned. "I don't know exactly how to say this." 

"Just say it." 

He looked down at his coffee cup. Then he whispered. "It felt so damn good to have you in my arms, Scully. So good. I didn't want to let go. And I'd be a lying son of a bitch if I said it didn't matter to me." 

"That what didn't matter to you?" 

"Holding you. I live for those moments, Scully. Those moments when you let your guard down and you'll let me touch you." I was looking at him hard now and could see the wetness in his eyes again. He still wouldn't look at me. He took a deep breath and said, "I didn't just want to touch your lips, Scully. I wanted to lay your mouth wide open under mine and stick my tongue down your throat. Christ, I was so turned on. But I knew where we were. And I knew you'd never forgive me for that, especially if I did it in public. I'm not so sure you'd forgive me if I did it in private. But there it is, Scully, the big skeleton in my closet. I think about you that way all the time and you deserve to know that." 

"Well, guess what, Mulder?" 

"What?" 

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it when you touch me." 

He looked at me now. Oh boy, like a hawk. His was breathing shallow and searching my face. "How much do you enjoy it? What does that mean, Scully?" 

"It means that I've been in denial for a long time and I'm coming out of it." 

"Denial?" 

"Over how I feel, over what I want from this relationship." 

"Relationship?" 

"Well, we have a very close friendship, and our partnership of course." 

"But?" 

"But, its not enough any more, is it?" 

He looked at his coffee cup again. "I can live with it." 

"But do you want to? Live with it, that is." 

"No." 

"What do want, Mulder?" 

He chuckled. "I was about to ask you the same question." 

"You first." 

"Oh sure, put the pressure on me. I'm the one that keeps screwing this up, remember?" 

"You haven't screwed anything up, Mulder. I just overreacted. I was surprised that you ..." 

"Almost kissed you." 

"Yeah, but I was even more surprised by my reaction to it." 

"Shock and horror?" 

"Hardly." 

He looked at me again. "What reaction? You practically bolted back to the table." 

"I had a ... physical reaction to it. A strong physical reaction to it." 

"You did?" I nodded and set my cup on the nightstand, then folded my hands in my lap, staring at my bare feet, sticking out from the end of my sweatpants. "Scully. How physical?" 

I could feel his eyes on me and I could feel the flush in my neck rise up and sweep across my face. Damn my lily-white skin! I peeked at him sideways and he had a look of wonder on his face. "You're blushing." He sounded amazed. 

"Yeah, no shit." I deadpanned. 

He chuckled. "Does that mean it was a good physical reaction, as opposed to the urge to vomit?" 

Now I started laughing outright. It sounded a little hysterical and he started laughing at me laughing. "Yeah, it was a good reaction.' This whole situation was striking me as so unbelievable. I didn't realize how hard it would be to get this conversation going. And he wasn't helping much either. 

My laughter was dying down and he said, "You're so incredibly beautiful when you laugh." 

I stopped laughing abruptly and looked at him. His coffee cup was set on the nightstand sometime when I wasn't looking and he had turned his body towards me and was leaning his weight on one arm, sitting on his hip. "You're beautiful any time, but when you laugh, you're whole face lights up and your eyes sparkle." 

I stared at him, staying motionless as he laid down on his side and propped his head in his hand. He reached up slowly and put his hand on my far hip and pulled gently. I swallowed hard and slid down to face him, laying on my side and propping my head in my hand like he was. He left his hand on my hip and it was burning a hole in my sweats. I watched his eyes turn from dark green to light hazel, gold flecks swirling around his iris. I felt hypnotized and I couldn't move. 

"Mulder, all those bodies out there. All those young people had no chance at life. It just made me realize something." 

"What's that?" 

"I have a chance for a life and I'm letting it slip away." 

"I know what you mean." 

"Mulder, life's too short. Either one of us could be gone tomorrow. And it would kill me if you were gone and we never ... I never told you how I felt about you." 

I don't know how long we stayed like that just looking at each other. I'm not sure when he started to move. It was so slow, I almost didn't see it happening, but then his lips were a hair's breath away from mine. He wasn't moving. He whispered, "Scully. I really want to kiss you. Kiss you for real." 

My eyes closed and then opened to meet his. And I said the first honest thing I'd said in a long time when it came to my attraction for my partner. "I won't be able to stop you." 

"Oh God," was all he said and his mouth slanted across mine and began pulling on my lips, sliding his own over mine. His tongue darted out and licked my bottom lip. 

"Oh," slipped out and his tongue slipped inside my mouth. And once again, my entire body reacted. I felt a wave of warmth rush through my body. I shivered as a rush of arousal tingled down my spine and I moaned into his mouth. 

He slipped his arm under my neck and rolled up on top of me, laying me back on the bed. I don't remember making a conscious decision to open my legs. But in an instant he was nestled firmly between my thighs. I could feel his hot hard erection through his sweats, pressing between my thighs. He continued his assault on my mouth. One minute devouring me, then next slowing down to gently explore and suck my lips into his mouth. Then his tongue would dive into my mouth again and begin dancing with my own. 

He finally broke the kiss, panting hard and laid his forehead on mine. We smiled at each other and lay there just catching our breath. 

"So far, so good," I panted. 

His hand slid under my shirt and tentatively moved up my rib cage. He was watching my face. "You're skin is so soft." The feel of his hand on my bare skin was causing alarming rivers of warmth to course through me. My breath caught as his hand slid over my breast. My nipple hardened immediately. He didn't move for a couple of seconds but then started squeezing gently. I moaned. 

His fingers moved to my nipple and pinched gently causing a gush of wetness between my legs. My eyes closed and I croaked out encouragement. "Oh, that feels so good, Mulder." He increased the pressure and rolled it between his fingers causing me to moan again. 

He pulled his hand away and I opened my eyes. "Scully, how far do you want this to go? If we need to stop this, tell me now, because I'm getting too excited." 

I was silent a moment until my brain registered his question. "It goes as far as you want it to go." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes, I made my decision before I walked in here. I can't stand the frustration of hiding it anymore. I want you so bad sometimes, I could scream." 

His head dropped to my shoulder and he spoke softly in my ear, his voice rough with emotion. "I want you to know this isn't just a physical thing to me. If I wanted physical gratification, I could get that anywhere." 

"I know that, for me either." 

"I'm in love with you, Scully." 

"I know. I'm in love with you too, Mulder." 

"I want you so much." 

"Then take me." 

* * *

* * *

**PART 3 - NC-17**

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 69**  
**THURSDAY EVENING**  
**OCTOBER 27, 2000 - 10:00 PM**

"Oh God." Seemed he was saying that a lot lately. He started kissing me again for a minute but then stopped to pull my shirt over my head. He removed his own as well and when the skin of his chest met mine, we both groaned at the long forgotten sensation. We spent long minutes just running our hands over each other's bare skin. He suckled my breasts until I was squirming with excitement. I was getting frantic to move along now and gasped out, "Let's get naked, Mulder." 

He lifted up onto his knees and helped me to remove my sweat and panties, then he shucked his sweats off, revealing that he wasn't wearing anything underneath. I sat up and reached for him, stroking him gently and feeling him twitch in my hand. Oh, he was so thick. He groaned and threw his head back. I whispered, "Wow, you're much bigger than I thought you would be." 

He grinned and reached out to run his fingers in the cleft between my legs. I bucked involuntarily and his grin grew wider. "I want to explore you there," he said softly. 

I gave his thick erection a firm squeeze and said, "I want to explore you here. Lay down. Did you happen to notice your room number?" He nodded, smiling, and eagerly flipped onto his back, laying flat with just his head on the pillow. I stayed facing away from him and straddled his chest. He joked, "Oh yeah, this is good. My favorite numbers are six and nine, you know?!" 

I giggled as he grasped my thighs firmly and gave a gentle tug downward. I took the hint and pulled my knees up and lowered my crotch to his face. He dove in without any preliminaries and started lapping at my soaking wet lips and sucking my wetness into his mouth. His tongue darted into my opening and pushed forcefully until it was buried inside. He had a mighty long tongue and it was doing amazing things to the inside of my vagina. 

Time to repay the favor. I grasped his shaft at the base with one hand, balancing on the other and licked him all over. He made amazing little grunting sounds, but never stopped what he was doing. When he was slick with my saliva, I took as much of him as possible into my mouth and began swirling my tongue and sucking him for all I worth. 

He captured my nub of nerves between his lips and began humming his approval with ever stroke of my mouth over his straining hardness. He was silky soft and smooth, yet hard and pulsing against my tongue. 

We got into a rhythm and I released my hand from his shaft, letting my mouth do the work and reached down to fondle his balls. He began groaning, but still sucking on my clit and slid two fingers inside me. His hips began to flex and buck slightly. I rubbed his perineum in soft, firm strokes. 

His fingers found my G-spot and I nearly wailed despite the fact that my mouth was full. He bucked hard and his fingers digging into my hips. His tongue continued to assault my clit. A few strokes over my G-spot and the cringing stab of arousal that flew through my groin sent me over the edge. My whole body began to shake with the force of my orgasm and I wanted to bring him with me. 

I let out a long hard moan around his cock, letting the vibrations wash over him and pressed my finger against his anus. "Ahhhhhwwwww." 

He shouted and exploded into my mouth, pulsing and spraying the back of my throat with his cum over and over. "Oh Scully, yeeeaaahhh!" That sensation intensified my own orgasm and I almost choked from not swallowing as I lost control of my muscles. I managed to swallow and lift up before I gagged and sucked in a ragged breath. 

We stayed that way for a couple of seconds, regrouping our senses and then I rolled off him onto my back. He reached down and tugged my arm and I crawled up to sprawl on top of his chest. He smiled at me. "Wow. I haven't done that in a long, long time. 

"Me neither." 

"Wow." 

"Did we really just do that?" 

He laughed now. The sound of it was pure joy. He wrapped his arms around my back and squeezed, rocking me back and forth. "Yes, ma'am, we did!" He nearly bellowed. 

His laughter was contagious and I started to laugh too. We grinned at each other and kissed tenderly when our laughter died down. "So we don't have to work tomorrow, huh?" 

"Nope." 

"Hmm. Should we make plans to do something?" 

"Nope." 

"No, huh?" 

"I don't plan on leaving this bed unless it's to answer the door for room service." 

"Sounds good to me. I'm exhausted now. I was tired before, but you wore me out." 

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet." 

"Really?" 

"Mmm. Wait till I get a hold of you tomorrow, after I'm all rested." 

"And what do I have to look forward to then?" 

"I'll make love to you properly." 

"Properly?" 

"You'll have to wait and see. I was a little anxious and overexcited tonight." 

"Oh, so you're saying you plan on taking your time tomorrow?" 

"I plan on making it a marathon event." 

"Modesty becomes you," I teased. 

He laughed. "Yeah, it does doesn't it?" 

* * *

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 69**  
**FRIDAY MORNING**  
**OCTOBER 28, 2000 - 8:00 AM**

We got up and took a shower together, soaping and exploring each others bodies. We ordered room service and ate breakfast in bed, feeding each other pieces of muffin and gulping orange juice. Of course, we couldn't resist talking about the case. 

"Mulder, where do you think this guy is?" 

"I don't know, but he'll be back soon." 

"How do you know?" 

"Because it's Halloween in three days and he's going to want his alter and supplies. Probably a big night for him." 

"So? What's the significance of Halloween? Other than a bunch of kids may be knocking on his door trick or treating. That idea gives me the willies. How many other years has he trolled for victims that way?" 

"All Hallow's Eve, Scully, a time when the veil between the worlds is thinnest." 

"Veil between the worlds?" I gave him 'the eyebrow.' 

He smiled. "Yes, in pagan religions they believe that this time of year is when it is easiest to cross over and commune with the dead, or vice-versa. It is easy for the spirits of ancestors to pay a visit, so to speak." 

"You've got to be kidding me!" 

"No, I'm not. In white occult religions such as Wicca, Halloween is a major Sabbat and the beginning of their new year. Its called Samhain. (pronounced Sow-en). There are elaborate rituals conducted honoring the dead and asking for their guidance and blessing." 

"And in 'not so white' occult religions?" 

"It's a time for vengeance and reckoning, a time of drawing power from the dead rather than worshipping or honoring them." 

"Do you believe any of this?" 

He shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't matter what I believe. It matters what Mr. Lockhart believes." 

"But I was sure that what I saw was what you had shown me as veves from the Voodoo religions." 

"They were and they were summoning veves, meaning he was trying to contact spirits." 

"For what purpose?" 

"I don't know. That's the thing that's bothering me. There were so many mixed symbols there. It doesn't make any sense. There was the veve's done on paper with chalk, that's voodoo for sure. There were the inverted crosses and black horns, that's indicative of Satanism. Then there was an altar that didn't fit either of those things. It had the bowl of water, the salt, the candle and the incense burner. These are all elemental symbols from Wicca." 

"Wicca? You've mentioned that before." 

"Yes, it's a religion that worships nature and believes in bringing the body into harmony with nature. They strive for self-actualization through various means. Some use healing, metaphysics, crystal therapy, gem lore, therapeutic touch, lots of meditation, etc. They are into all things natural, including Holistic medicine. Many of them end up belonging to PETA and Save the Whales too if you get my drift. A lot of them are Vegetarians. They are really into the environment and all that stuff. Very conscious of the world around them and how we as humans interact with it." 

"So these are the good guys of the occult world." 

"Yeah, you could say that." 

"New Agers?" 

"No, they are another thing all together. Wiccans have eight Sabbaths a year, four major, four minor. They call them Sabbats, minus the 'h'. But they are good people, harmless, if a little weird, dancing around bonfires in robes with double sided knives. They worship a three aspect Goddess, rather than a male deity. But there is nothing sinister about them. Unfortunately, they call themselves witches. Bad choice of labels, since it often lumps them in with every other negative occult religion in the minds of the ignorant." 

"Like me?" 

He smiled. "Occult is a broad term actually that encompasses anything 'not fundamentalist religion'. Unfortunately, most people hear the word occult and automatically think, 'equals Satanism'. Nothing could be further from the truth." 

"Where the hell did you learn all this stuff?" 

"I do a lot of reading." 

I chuckled. "So do I but I never learned this stuff." 

"That's because you were too busy reading Gray's Gross Anatomy while I was educating myself beyond the limits of my intelligence with books on everything from Agnostics to Zen Buddhism." 

"So what does all this say to you, the mixed stuff." 

"It tells me that this guy doesn't have a clue what the hell he is doing. He has probably read some books and stolen stuff he likes from all of them and combined them into some eclectic little set of rituals. Serial killers tend to like rituals. 

"He's into the glamour of it all, rather than any real belief, I think. Judging by the photos, this guy gets off on torture. I can only assume then that he enjoys frightening his victims. The whole altar and occult thing may be his way of putting on a good show for the intended victim. He may not believe in any of it." 

"Sick." 

"Yeah, well, we already know that." 

"Do I sense a 'but'?" 

"Yeah. But, if he does believe ... " 

"You don't honestly think that he can employ the services of the dead, do you? That's stretching it, even for you, Mulder." 

He just looked at me. "I don't know. Something about this is bugging me. I'm missing something." 

"Maybe, maybe not. Besides, if he does come home and sees all the police there, won't he bolt?" 

"Not necessarily. Not if he wants something that is in the house or the barn. He probably has a high I.Q. I think he's insane, but let's not make the mistake of thinking he's stupid. And let's not make the mistake of thinking that he would act logically. Logic would dictate that he stay away from the place. But most of these guys like a home base and it really messes up their game and their equilibrium if they are forced to operate elsewhere. This guy obviously has things set up nicely for himself. I don't know where he went, but I'm betting that he left the state to troll for more victims. He's probably depleted the area." 

"That's an awful way to put it." 

"I know but that's probably the way he thinks. He can't grab too many victims from the same area or people will get suspicious. Remember, he's crazy, he's not stupid. And if he's managed to abduct, torture, kill and bury 50 odd victims without anyone getting on to his game, then he isn't just smart, he's really clever." 

"Maybe we should be leaving someone staking the place out at night." 

"You mean no one's staying overnight?" 

"Holy shit! He could be nearby and coming back at night, only to leave before the troops get there in the morning!" 

"Do you think so?" 

"I don't know, but it's a possibility. Another thing. Has anyone checked the woods surrounding this place or know of any hunting cabins in the area, or caves? We need to look for anywhere else that he may be hiding. He could be real close, watching everything we do. I have a hunch that he is. Guys who go through such elaborate rituals usually don't stray to far from home. Unless it's to grab victims and return immediately." 

"Should we go over there?" 

"No, today is our day off. Let's make some phone calls though, but then we'll let the others handle it." 

"O.K., you call Simpson about arranging to check the area by helicopter for hunting cabins or anything unusual in the woods around the area. I'll call the sheriff and have him put one of his deputies on stake out at night." 

"O.K., tell him not to go after the guy if he spots him. Not even if he has a victim with him. Just call us for back up. We don't need some small town Barney Fife deciding he's Dirty Harry." 

"O.K., let's do it." We both picked up our cell phones and made the calls. I could tell that Mulder was having some difficulty with Simpson. I hung up from my call to the Sheriff and held out my hand for the phone." 

Mulder handed it over to me as Simpson was still talking.  <Look, Spooky, just because that little dish of a partner of yours discovered these graves doesn't mean that you guys are calling the shots now. This is still our investigation and I am the head of this team.>

He was talking so loud that I was holding the receiver away from my ear and Mulder was smiling at me. He mouthed the words 'You Dish!' to me I curled my lips in and smashed them together in an effort not to laugh. Finally Simpson took a breather and I cut in. 

"Well, Simpson, that was a nice little speech. But your ego isn't the issue here, I'm afraid. We need to have this stuff done and I could give a rat's ass whether you tell your boss that it was your idea or not. Just get it done." 

<Agent Scully!>

"That would be me. And you seem to have annoying habit of insulting the hell out of me. While I'm flattered that you think I'm a 'dish', I would rather you keep your opinions to yourself." 

"Uh, sorry." 

"You're sorry all right. Just make it happen Simpson. If I get there on Saturday and find out it hasn't been done, I'll be calling A.D. Skinner and requesting the resources myself. So, hot shot, if you want the credit for anything that may be found, I suggest you get on it. And by the way, a deputy is going to be staking the place out at night in case our perp returns. So alert your little team off ass kissing barnacles to keep their cell phones on in case he needs to call for back up." 

Silence. 

"That's all. See you tomorrow, Agent Simpson." Beeeep. I looked up just in time to see Mulder holding his stomach and tipping out of his chair. He let loose with a roar of laughter and flopped onto the floor, holding his side. Overdoing it a bit, but it was funny. I laughed with him. 

He gasped for breath a couple of times as his mirth died down. "Oh, oh, Scully, you are priceless. I would have loved to have been able to see his face when he realized you were on the other end of that phone. Oh God, that was hysterical!" 

"It wasn't THAT funny, Mulder. The guy is an asshole." 

"Yes it was. I absolutely love to see you put arrogant, disrespectful men in their place. It's such a hoot!" 

"I'm glad that I can be here for your amusement." He stood up off the floor and came to my chair. He stooped down and slid an arm under my knees and the other around my back and lifted me into the air effortlessly. I whooped and grabbed him around the neck. He strolled to the bed and dropped me from a height of about two feet and watched me bounce. His eyes were sparkling. 

"Now, Agent 'Kick-Ass' Scully, I believe that I made a promise that I still need to fulfill." 

"Did you promise? What was that anyway? Oh yeah! Dessert! I still haven't gotten my dessert!" 

"You just had breakfast! You want dessert?" 

"Yes!" 

"Minx. I think you're stalling." 

"Good things come to those who wait." 

"Ahh, so that's the way it is, eh? Well, then, I guess I'll have to take care of this little detail first. What would you like?" 

"Nothing too heavy or sugary." 

"Well, that leaves donuts and pastry out." 

"Indeed." 

He was totally serious about not leaving this room and it amused the hell out of me, but who was I to complain? I got up and went to the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth. 

"Ooo, I know!" He reached for the hotel phone and rang for room service. I emerged from the bathroom just in time to hear him say. "Red, cherry, whatever. Right." And he hung up. 

"What are you up to now?" 

"Oh, just a little surprise." 

"Should I be scared." 

He tapped his lip with his finger as if seriously considering. "I don't think so. How kinky are you?" 

"Kinky? Now I know I should be scared!" 

He laughed. "Not to worry. Come here and cuddle with me. 

I slipped off my robe under which I was completely nude and strolled to the bed, exaggerating the sway of my hips. He wolf whistled and grabbed my arm when I got close enough and yanked me onto the bed. I was really enjoying how playful he was. I was a little surprised too. He was so serious most of the time. I knew he had a sense of humor but that usually tended to be dark also. Aside from his innuendo I had rarely seen a light and playful Mulder. I was finding that I loved his teasing. It made me feel young. "Hey, you still have your boxers on! No fair." 

"You'll have to suffer without feasting your eyes on me for a few more moments." 

"And why is that?" 

"Because I ordered dessert, remember? Unless you want me answering the door in the nude." 

"No, I'm not inclined to share." 

"Too bad." I smacked him playfully on the shoulder and cuddled up to his side. We sighed and just laid there enjoying the feel of being able to cuddle and be affectionate. 

A knock came at the door minutes later. Mulder threw on his robe and answered the door, tipping the woman who delivered the tray. It had two bowls on it with lids and two spoons. He sat it on the nightstand while I looked on with curiosity. He hopped onto the bed and laid down on his stomach, grabbing one of the bowls. "Lay back." 

I did watching his eyes light up with mischief. I was looking forward to whatever he had planned. I had decided this was to be his show. He seemed to be enjoying himself so much and I didn't want to take over. I was enjoying watching him enjoying himself. It was a rare sight in the past and I was hoping that I was going to see lots more of it now that he didn't have to hide his feelings for me. It was a glorious feeling. 

He whipped the lid off the bowl with a flourish to expose a heap of red Jello. He picked up the tablespoon and spooned up a huge blob of it. "What are you going to do with that?" 

"I'm going to eat it." 

"Uh huh." 

"From here." With that he dumped it right in the middle of my chest. I squealed when the cold stuff hit my rib cage instinctively trying to pull away from it.. He laughed and spooned up another blob. "Careful, don't want it to fall off. You have to stay still. 

I was giggling now and watching the Jello jiggle around on my rib cage. "Still? You want me to stay still when you're freezing me to death with cold Jello?" 

"Be patient. I'll warm you up in no time. One more plop of Jello onto my stomach and he put the bowl back on the nightstand and straddled me. He tilted his head to the side, smirking, as if deciding on the best plan of attack. 

"Mulder..." My voice held a warning. He beamed me a huge smile and bent down and began slurping up blobs of Jello. He would lick the entire area carefully before moving on to the next one. I was starting to hum with the alternating sensations of the cold Jello and his hot tongue. He sucked up a large blob of Jello off my navel and came up to my chest, dropping down and surrounding my nipple with his mouth. His tongue swirled the Jello around my nipple and it puckered painfully with the cold only to be shocked by the heat of his tongue lapping it away. "Oh God, Mulder." 

"Mmm," he hummed. He treated the other nipple to the same exercise. I was arching off the bed and pressing my breast into his mouth in an effort to increase the sensations. He readily complied with my wishes and sucked hard. The current of sensation was washing down between my legs and I was hot and swollen now. 

"Hey, your turn." He lifted his head and grinned. He flopped over onto his back and looked up at me expectantly. He looked so boyish and happy I had to laugh. I reached for the bowl and spread several large gobs of Jello onto his chest and stomach. 

I took my time eating my dessert. I loved the taste of him, with or without Jello. I sucked on his nipples, licked his chest and made my way down to his navel. He was gasping by the time I had emptied his navel area of Jello. I saw that I had cleaned him up pretty thoroughly. I pulled his boxers down and off his legs. He was really hard now. I could just stare at it all day, but I had other plans. "Oops, almost forgot," I exclaimed. I grabbed the bowl and shoveled a couple of spoonfuls into my mouth, setting it back on the stand. 

Then I grabbed his now erect shaft and lowered my mouth over him, swirling the Jello around his head and bobbing up and down, swallowing it a little bit at a time. He groaned and flexed his hips. I sucked him hard until I sensed that he was close and then stopped. I crawled up on his chest and we kissed for long minutes, rubbing our bodies together. He suddenly clamped his arms around me and rolled us over so I was beneath him. 

He scooted down between my legs and placed them over his shoulders and inserted two fingers immediately in between my swollen lips and slid them deep. I threw my head back and groaned. We'd fooled around last night, but nothing had been inside me yet. "Oh, Mulder, it's been so long." 

He stroked me gently in and out. "Long time since anything's been in here, huh?" 

"Too long." 

"How long?" I realized he was serious and I looked down at him. He didn't stop stroking me with his fingers but his face was tentative. He almost looked worried. 

"Do you really want to know?" 

He looked down at his fingers and then back up at me. "Maybe not." 

"Mulder, I haven't been with anyone since I met you." 

His eyes grew wider in response to that whispered statement. His voice was choked slightly. "Really?" 

"Really." 

"You weren't with ... what's his name?" 

I smiled, "Ed?" 

"Yeah, whatever." 

"No. Close but no cigar." 

He blinked once slowly and smiled, biting his bottom lip with his top teeth. "I know it's selfish of me, but I was hoping you would say that, even though I didn't expect it." 

"There has been something in there from time to time though." 

"Huh?" 

"My vibrator." 

He barked a laugh. "You own a vibrator?" He seemed totally amazed by this information. 

"Doesn't every girl? Oh, yeah, that's good." His head dropped and he began to lick my lips at the side of his fingers, then he moved up to suck my little nub into his mouth and I shouted with joy at the forgotten sensation of a man paying attention to this part of my body. 

I began moving my hips in rhythm to his thrusting and sucking. His fingers curled up towards the front wall of my tunnel and began to swirl around. A couple of strokes and he hit the jackpot, jarring G-spot with a couple of firm deft strokes. That and the pulling sensation from him sucking on my clit was an unbelievable combination of sensations. My body shuddered violently and unexpectedly as an orgasm crashed through me. "Ahhh, Mulder! Yes, Yes, Yeeehesss!" He sucked harder on my nub and ran his tongue back and forth over it prolonging the waves of pleasure. 

I finally couldn't stand it and hissed, "Stop! Too much." He released me and gently pulled his fingers out and brought them up to his face. He inhaled and then slid his fingers into his mouth, licking them clean. I'd always thought that kind of stuff in porn films was cheesy and ridiculous. But watching him lick my taste off his fingers was one of the most erotic, arousing things I'd ever seen. He smiled a lazy smile at me and leaned over my body, taking his weight on his elbows and wiggling his hips between my thighs as if teasing me. He poked my entrance with his engorged hard on and I grunted. 

Then his smile faded and he kissed me hungrily, his tongue assaulting the inside of my mouth. He finally broke the kiss. "Scully, last chance to say, 'No.'" He nudged my entrance again. 

"That would really make me a poor sport at this point, don't you think?" 

One corner of his mouth lifted up. "Yeah, but I had to ask. I know we fooled around last night, but this is ..." 

"Bigger, better, faster, stronger ..." He laughed as I mimicked the tag line from the Bionic Man. Anybody remember that show? I do, I guess that dates me a bit. But it dates him too, because he knew exactly what I was talking about. 

I felt him pull his knees up slightly and brace himself. He looked into my eyes and whispered, reverence in his voice. "I love you, Scully." And he slid into me with one hard, firm stroke to the hilt. 

A long groan sounded from my throat as I felt him stretch my walls to their limit. It hurt just slightly and I panted, concentrating on relaxing. He stayed still for long moments, letting me adjust. "Ooohhh, booyy. You feel sooo good, Scully. Oh man, you're squeezing me tight. Wooo." 

"I told you it had been a long time." 

He breathed out. "Let me know when it's O.K. I don't want to hurt you. If I'd known you were going to be this snug, I would have gone slower. I'm sorry." 

"Don't worry about it, I'm eager too." I swiveled my hips experimentally and lifted my legs higher, spreading my legs a little wider. I felt him sink a little deeper and we both groaned as I felt him push into my cervix, stretching the membrane taut. "Oh, yeeaahh. Move now, Mulder, Yeah, move now." 

He retreated slowly, hissing air in between his clenched teeth. He slowly pushed back in. He kept up his slow pace for a couple of minutes. I could feel myself getting wetter and wetter with every stroke, until there was no more resistance or stretching and I was totally relaxed. He must have felt it because he sped up slightly at that point but kept his strokes long and deep, smooth and steady. I wrapped my legs tighter to his waist and locked my ankles at the small of his back. I met each of his thrusts easily, keeping time with him. "Oh, Mulder, I feel so full." 

He was murmuring to me. "So wet, so hot, oh you feel so good. This is incredible. You're so snug. Oh yeah." 

This was incredible. This was amazing. We were so in sync. This was so EASY, the way making love should be. His head dropped to my shoulder and he began sucking on my neck and earlobe and returning to my neck. I was moaning deep in my throat now. 

His voice was rough and low as he made an "Awww, Awww, Awww," sound with every stroke like nothing had ever felt this good to him. It was so arousing to hear those sounds from him and know that I was the cause. Know that being with me was giving him such pleasure. I realized that this was the first time I'd ever been with someone when giving him pleasure was giving me pleasure. It was amazing. I was 'making love' for the first time in my life. I was lost in the feeling. 

He finally raised his head and kissed me, his tongue stroking mine in time with his thrusts. I kissed him back hard and his thrusts sped up steadily until he was hitting me hard with every thrust and we were both moaning and grunting. Our skin was smacking together, sweat coating our bodies. 

I was so close. It looked like he was too. I panted out, "Yeah, Mulder, just a little more, just a little more, so close, oh I'm gonna come. I'm so close." 

My words must have inspired him because I didn't think he could thrust any harder, but he did. He pulled up higher on his knees and began slamming into me, bouncing my hips on the hard mattress with every fast deep stroke. He reached down with one hand and pinched my nipple, squeezing hard and rolling it between his fingers. I shattered, screaming his name. "Muuullldddeeerrr! Yeah, Yeah, Oh God, Yes!" 

Convulsions wracked my body and everything went white as I felt the sparks shoot through my body as I clamped down on him hard. I suddenly felt his hand slide between us as I arched my back off the bed. I was coming down finally and looked up at his face. His eyes were clamped shut and he was grinding his teeth. I looked down and he was pinching the base of his shaft with his thumb and forefinger. He had pulled out some and I could see he was squeezing so hard, the part of him I could see was turning red. I stilled as best I could, remembering that there was some trick to that, stopping an impending orgasm. I could feel my insides still pulsing around the end of his engorged head. 

He opened his eyes and I saw them roll back in his head. "That was so fantastic, Mulder. Why didn't you let go?" I asked. 

"Not yet." He relaxed his grip and let his weight sink down onto me, pushing himself inside again and then he stopped. He smoothed the hair away from my face. My bangs were sweaty and stuck to my forehead. I shivered as the air began to cool the sweat on my body. He reached down and pulled the bed spread over us. We were on top of the sheets but didn't bother to get under them. "I'm not done with you yet, lady." 

"No? I wouldn't mind if you let go. I want to see it." 

He smiled. "You will. That was really close." He levered up onto his knees, sliding out of me and spun around to kneel in front of head board, his thighs spread wide, and his cock standing up proud and just as erect as when we started. "Come here." 

I crawled up and straddled his thighs, wrapping my arms around his neck. He grasped my hips and guided me over to perch on top of him. His wide, flared head teased my dripping folds as he tipped his hips forward, poking at my entrance. "Tease." I quipped. 

He chuckled and lowered me down his shaft. When he was buried to the hilt, I ground my hips against him. "Oh yeah, Scully, I love this position." 

I smiled and him and began to ride him. Up, Down, Grind. Up, Down, Grind. "I don't think I've ever done it this way, sitting up." 

He didn't answer me. He just wrapped his arms around my waist and helped lift me. It made it easier on my legs. This position put my breasts at his eyes level. He bent forward slightly and took a nipple into his mouth. He laved it and then sucked it firmly. It sent bolts of sensation straight to my groin. "Oh, harder, Mulder, feels fantastic, please, oh suck it harder, as hard as you can!" 

He groaned and increased his suction almost to point of pain. I began to moan again as I felt myself climbing rapidly toward another orgasm. I'd never had more than one. I'd had two already, one from his mouth and fingers and one from intercourse. And I knew about fifteen seconds after he sucked hard on my nipple that I was going to have another one. He was thrusting up to meet me each time I slid down. "Oooooo, yeah, don't stop. Keep sucking hard, I'm gonna come again, Oh I can't believe it, Mulder, you're going to make me come again." 

He started thrusting up into me quick and hard. I gripped his shoulders and began impaling myself on him as hard as I could, bouncing back up I was landing so hard. One of his hands slid down over my ass and a finger slipped into the crack between my ass cheeks. He found my anus and pressed one finger against it gently. A sharp bolt of excitement ripped through me like lightening as he pressed, sucked my nipple so hard it almost hurt and rammed up into me. I don't know if he meant to be that coordinated, but the combination was perfect and I felt my mind leap into an abyss of unbelievable pleasure as my body began to shake with tremors. All I could do was hang on to him tight as my muscles jerked and my vaginal walls fluttered around his cock. I mumbled his name like a prayer, over and over. 

I snapped my eyes open and met his eyes. He shouted my name, "Scully! OHMYGOD, Sccuullyy! Awwwwww, yes, aww, yes!" I felt him throb inside me and then the warm flush of his semen as it sprayed inside me over and over. 

He slid down, staying inside me and carefully straightened his legs. I collapsed on his chest while we both breathed hard, trying to catch our breath. "Mulder." 

"Hmm." 

"We're really good together." 

He ran his fingers through my hair making me shiver. "Yeah, we are. I knew we would be." 

"You can buy me dessert anytime." 

I held on as his belly started bouncing as he chuckled. "You're incredible." 

"You're not so bad yourself." 

"Nap time?" 

"Sounds good to me. Then we'll shower." 

"Good plan." I nestled myself into his chest, dangling my legs between his and fell asleep on the warmest body pillow I'd ever had the pleasure to share a bed with. 

I woke up feeling decidedly sticky and gross. He mumbled and tried to hold onto me as I slid off his chest. I rolled onto my back and he grunted, opening one eye to peer at my sideways. It was nearly 1:00 PM. I couldn't believe I had slept that long. "And where do you think you're going, young lady?" 

"I'm having visions of water and soap lather." 

"Are there any helpful hand maids in these visions?" 

"Could be?" 

"And what does one do to apply for the job of chief Scully bather?" 

"Chief Scully bather?" 

"What do I have to do to get to shower you?" 

"How about asking me." 

"That's it? Really?" 

"That's it. Really." 

He cleared his throat dramatically. "Scully, may I take a shower with you?" 

"So formal." I teased. 

He scrunched his brow and turned to me. With a perfectly straight face, he asked, "O.K. then, wanna boff in the shower, babe?" 

I howled with laughter until I was crying and couldn't breathe. He caught me up in his arms, laughing and rolled me over on top of him. His hands went to my head and he pulled me down to his lips. Between chuckles he kissed me on the cheeks, the eyelids, and the jaw. His laughter faded but he still smiled. 

His voice was soft and low. "I still can't believe you're here with me. Yesterday I'm trying to figure a way to get you on the dance floor just for an excuse to touch you and have fun with you. And today you're in my bed. I fell asleep, I wake up and you're still here. It's like a miracle." His face was soft with wonder and I beamed him a smile. 

"I love you so much, Scully." He bit his lip. "I never thought you could want me." 

"Why not?" 

"You're so together and I'm so messed up. All my baggage." 

"Mmm. That's what makes you so interesting." 

"And difficult." 

"Are you fishing for compliments? Trying to get me to contradict your self-flagellation party?" 

"Maybe. I don't know. I just can't believe it. I just don't get it. I'm never this lucky." 

"First of all, don't put me on a pedestal, I'm not all that and a bag of chips." 

"Yes you are." 

I giggled. "Second of all, if you're wondering why I fell in love with you, I'll tell you." 

"I would love to have that cleared up for me, yes," he deadpanned. 

"It was a combination of things. You're brilliant mind and the way it challenged me. Your dedication and loyalty. Your compassion and friendship. The fact that you respected me from day one, even when you were suspicious of me. You never put me down or made me feel 'less than'. You always treated me as equal even when we disagreed. I loved you for that right away. Later one, well, I loved you for searching for me when I was missing. I loved you for holding me when I was vulnerable without making me feel weak because of it." 

"Wow. I hope I can remember all that!" 

I giggled. "With your memory, it shouldn't be a problem. And besides, I thin you should spill the beans too. It's only fair." 

"Hmm. Let's see. You're smart and strong, dedicated and loyal. You challenge me, make me work to prove myself. It makes me test my boundaries and I think that has made me a better man. You respected my journey and put up with my obsessions even when you thought I was a total nut case. So many things, Scully. Too many to count. You've been my best friend and my rock for so long. I can't even remember how I functioned before you came along. 

"But you know what? I think I love you most simply because you've never left me. Even when I was a total asshole. Everyone I've ever loved has either left me or betrayed me or at the very least, lied to me. Their friendship and love was always conditional. But not you. I could trust you. You never lied to me. We could fight, but you always came back. That still amazes me." 

I kissed him softly. "I do love you unconditionally you know? You're stuck with me now and I do not share my man with anyone, so remember that!" 

He grinned. "Your man, huh?" 

"Don't like that term?" 

"I absolutely love the sound of it." He shook his head and grinned again. Then shouted, "I'm Dana Scully's Man! WooHoo!" I giggled again. I couldn't remember laughing this much in one day in years. 

"I feel like I just got dropped into a fantasy land but I'm gonna play the dream out to the very end, Scully." 

"Good. Fantasy land, huh? I'll have to see what I can do about some of those fantasies." 

"I have one that involves a shower." 

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Maybe I can take care of that one right now." 

"You think?" 

"Yeah, you're making me think a lot. The possibilities for fun with this body of yours are endless." He choked slightly and looked away. He actually looked embarrassed and it was adorable. "I'm taking a shower now. If you want to join me, fantasy boy, you're welcome to follow." 

I hopped off the bed and headed for the bathroom with Mulder hot on my heels. 

We relaxed under the warm spray and washed each other's hair. We giggled like little kids when he kneeled down so I could reach. We were both giddy. I turned to face the spray and felt his hands on my waist. His thumb caressed my tattoo and made me shiver. 

"Do you know what that was all about?" 

"Your tattoo?" 

"The whole trip to Philadelphia and what I did there." 

"It was wild Scully making a break for it. I don't know. I felt like I was losing you then and it scared the shit out of me. You were pulling away and it made me crazy, Scully." 

"I was running away from you." 

"Why?" 

"Because I thought you were taking me for granted and it hurt. Because I had fallen for you and I guess I wanted to know how you would react to another side of me, to thought of me with another man. It was juvenile, but in a way, it was a test. You sounded so incredulous when you asked if I had a date and that hurt so much." 

His arms came around my waist and pulled me back into his chest. "I'm so sorry. I was taking you, your friendship for granted. I was so secure that you wouldn't be with anyone else, even though I had no claim on you. But I swear to you, I haven't taken it for granted for one second since then. You opened my eyes wide, Scully. I was so jealous, so scared you were going to leave me. I was terrified when I realized how unhappy you were." He kissed my neck and trailed his lips up my neck to my ear. 

"Mulder, I guess I wanted to prove that I could be without you. I wanted to prove that I could spend one day and evening and not think about you." 

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Scully." 

"I failed." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I couldn't do it. The more I tried to focus on him and not think about you, the more I did think about you. It was maddening. And when he kissed me, al I could think was, 'I wish he was Mulder.'" 

"Oh God, I wish I'd known. It will never happen again, Scully, I promise. I'll never take you for granted. I swear. Believe me. I know what a miracle it is that you are still with me." He resumed kissing my neck and slid his hands up to my breasts, cupping them and pinching my nipples. 

It was almost embarrassing how quickly aroused I was as my knees buckled slightly with the sensations. I grew wet and swollen and ready for him almost instantly with the first pinch of his fingers on my nipple. One hand snaked down to cup me between my legs. I fell back against him and felt him, hard and as ready as I was. He bent at the knees and pressed himself between my ass cheeks. I groaned. 

"Mulder, I'm ready. Take me right here." He hummed into my ear and eased me forward. I put my arms out and placed them on the wall of the shower over the spigot. He put his thigh between my legs and spread them wide, nudging gently. His large hands cupped my hips and turned my butt up. He rubbed his cock in my folds, opening me gently and then eased inside. 

We both moaned now. The hot water was still pounding from the shower head and cascading down my back. It's stinging spray put all my nerve ending on alert. My skin was so sensitized. He began thrusting in and out of me at an almost languid pace. 

I put one hand between my legs and began fingering my clit. I couldn't hold the wall anymore and so I bent over, laying my hand on the narrow shelf that ran around the edge of the tub. This put my head below my waist, nearly at my knees. 

I felt him lean forward placing a hand on the wall above my head and he sank deep into me, thrusting down into me from above. He was so much taller than me, this worked good. He didn't have to bend at the knees. We groaned together again. "So good, Mulder, I can feel you so deep." 

"Oh yeah, this is good, so good, Scully. You have a beautiful ass. Did I ever tell you that?" He sped up and began thrusting hard, pulling almost all the way out and sinking down again hard, pushing deep into my core. He panted out, "Put your legs together." 

I fumbled slightly but brought my legs together and immediately felt the difference. With him pushing so deep, It created a pressure in my entire pelvis that had me shouting unintelligible sounds with every impact of his hips against my ass. "Keep touching yourself, Scully. I'm so close." 

We grunted and groaned as he drove into me over and over. This was so unbelievably good. He felt so wide and hard, pressing me open over and over. I pushed my clit down with the heel of my hand so his cock slid along the bottom of it with every thrust. Two strokes and I wailed a keening high sound as I exploded around him, clamping down on him hard and pulling him over the edge with me. 

He shouted my name and held his cock pressed inside me as he emptied himself in a series of jerking, quick spasms. He slid out of me gently and helped me to stand upright. I experienced a little head rush and was dizzy for a few seconds. Cradling me in his arms, he reached for the wash cloth with one hand and gently cleaned between my legs as I trembled on shaky legs. He positioned me so the spray hit me in the thighs. 

"Holy shit, Mulder. My legs are so wobbly." He chuckled low over my head. 

"Don't worry, I've got you." 

"Boy, do you ever." 

* * *

* * *

**PART 4 - R**

**POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**SUNDAY MORNING**  
**OCTOBER 29, 2000 - 9:30 AM**

Mulder stood looking down at the Sheriff Cole as he sat behind his desk. 

"So, this guy is 42 years old, lives alone, has no relatives that you know of at this time. Or at least no relatives that live in the area." 

"Right. He does have a sister, Henrietta, younger I think. She doesn't live in the state though. I'm not sure where she lives." 

"Find her." 

"Why?" 

"I want to know where this guy went to school. I want to know what his childhood was like, what his relationships with girlfriends were like." 

"What are you looking for?" 

"Evidence of the homicidal triad." 

I looked at Mulder and back to the Sheriff. Poor guy, I could tell he had no idea what my partner was talking about. "Sheriff Downs, the homicidal triad is lingo of a criminal profiler. It refers to the early stages of mental illness in potential serial killers. These stages of unrest generally develop into certain behaviors such as cruelty to animals, bed wetting and arson." 

"Oh." 

Mulder looked at the Sheriff again. "Sorry, man, didn't mean to be obtuse. I forget that I'm talking to people from Behavioral Science sometimes when I'm thinking like this." 

"S'okay. Your partner seems to be good at filling in the gaps of your narrative." Mulder and I laughed at that. 

I looked at the Sheriff. "Yeah, we make a good team." Mulder glanced at me and winked. The Sheriff had an amused look on his face but said nothing. 

It was harder than I thought to keep my hands off my partner while we were on the job. I found that I wanted to touch him all the time. I was going to have to work on that. It wouldn't do for us to be acting inappropriately within eyesight of anyone from law enforcement. 

The Sheriff asked, "Have you seen the news?" 

Mulder looked at him again. "No, why?" 

"They are reporting that the Lockhart house is haunted. They got wind of the occult stuff and they are playing it to the hilt, it being near Halloween and all. Their tag line is "A Real Haunted House for Halloween." 

"Oh, how trite." 

"Yeah, well, we are trying to keep the details away from them so they had to make something up. You know how those people are. They are going on about whether or not summoned spirits have aided the madman in his pursuits." 

Mulder continued. "Sheriff, I would appreciate you doing whatever you can. If you can find this sister and get an address on her and a phone number that would be a big help. If you get her on the phone, ask her a few simple questions like where they went to school and what years, high school and college. Then we can go to the schools and get all the records. I will want to talk to her, face to face if possible if you find her. If not, I'll settle for a telephone conversation." 

"O.K., I'll see what I can do." 

"Thanks, we appreciate your help, really. You guys have been great with us. We're used to being scowled at and resented and squabbling over jurisdiction with local law enforcement," I said. 

He smiled. "Not this time. It's been a pleasure. I was completely thrown by the evidence of this case. I knew it was way out my league. You two have amazed me with your ability and perceptions. I didn't even know where to start. To be honest with you, that other bunch didn't impress me that much. They seem awfully impressed with themselves, but I didn't see them figuring much out." 

I smiled at him. "Well, we have to work with them so we try to get along. We aren't the best of friends with them either. By the way, thank you for phoning the Bureau with your compliments. It got us a day off!" 

"No kidding? Well, I'm glad. You two certainly deserved it and you both look better rested." 

Mulder grinned. "We are, thanks. Although it's Sunday, we are going to head out to the farm and see where the teams are with the digging, tagging and bagging. I also want to go through the house again. Something's bugging me. By the way, you didn't hear anything from the helicopter search, did you?" 

"Nope, but I imagine they would have told your buddy, Simpson, there if they had found anything." 

"Thanks, Sheriff, we'll check with him. Scully and I are going to head out now. We'll call and talk to you later. Thanks for coming in on a Sunday." 

"No problem. Whatever I can do to help, just ask." 

We left and headed back to the hotel to make some phone calls and see what the lab had come up with so far. We called the forensics team and the excavation team to see where they were at. They had been working three days straight now and were exhausted. 

We asked Simpson to fax over a copy of the background check on Daryl Lockhart. Mulder decided it was time to do a mini-profile on the monster. We spent the rest of the day going over the accumulated evidence. 

That evening we took our time making love. I got to be on top and set the pace at languid, riding him for as long as I could before letting go. Exhaustion was threatening, so I finally sped up and brought us both crashing over the edge. We rode out the wave of pleasure and sank into a blissful sleep. I think Mulder actually slept for eight hours straight. He said he couldn't remember the last time he'd done that. 

* * *

**LOCKHART FARM**  
**MONDAY MORNING**  
**OCTOBER 30, 2000 - 10:30 AM**

We walked slowly through the old plantation house. It was really quite impressive when all was said in done. I had no idea what the place was worth but it was chock full of a fortune in antique furniture. Old claw legged couches I recognized as French antiques. In the living room was the most gorgeous antique Grandfather's clock made of mahogany wood. It's pendulum swung sedately back and forth. I jumped slightly when I heard it 'Bong' the hour. There were some English hope chests and tall armoires graced all three of the bedrooms on the second floor. The bathroom even sported one of those old porcelain toilets with the tank suspended on the wall and a pull chain to flush. 

I mumbled, "Christ, I feel like I stepped into a time warp." 

"So, Scully, do think the house the haunted?" 

"You're joking, right? Mulder, that's just the news media feeding the macabre appetite of the American public." 

"Maybe. But this guy did have summoning veve's in his repertoire." 

"So what? You said yourself he's probably in it for the glamour and doesn't know what he's doing with it." 

"That's the most dangerous kind of dabbler, the one that doesn't know what he's doing. He could get lucky in spite of himself and then not be able to control what he has created." 

"You're not serious." It was a statement. 

"We'll see." I decided to let it go. It wasn't worth the argument. 

Everything was neat and there was little clutter, but the place had an air of neglect. The carpets were threadbare and dust was found on the coffee tables and mantles. Cobwebs peeked out through the cold air return vents along the baseboards. We ducked under the crime scene tape and entered what was clearly the master bedroom. A large four poster bed, sitting up on rather high legs was in the center of the room. Many of the photos taken were of victims on this very bed, tied in various ways. 

Mulder mumbled, "I wonder where he keeps all the sheets." I gave him a slightly disgusted look at his attempt at morbid humor. He was referring to the fact that each of those photos showed sheets on the bed. Wondering whether he washed and reused them or threw them away was something only Mulder would contemplate. Other photos had shown the victims in the barn, strapped to hay bales and other such various indignities. 

He began opening the drawers in the armoire and carefully leafing through the piles of tee-shirts and folded overalls. There was an underwear drawer and a sock drawer. I decided to check out the closet, knowing that there would probably be nothing to find. Mulder approached the bed and drew the bed spread down looking at the sheets. They were the old-fashioned cotton-type that would be hard to get blood out of. He ran his hands over the sheets. 

"Mulder, what are you looking for?" 

"I don't know. But he has a pattern I haven't discovered yet. I wish I knew the order of the victims murders." 

"You mean which corpses were made corpses first?" 

"Yeah, and the identities." 

"Well, we have most of the identities by now. Post-mortem autopsies will give us some idea. We can tell ballpark times by the level of decomposition and the condition of the old wounds as well as the level of rigor mortis. It's rather an interesting process, actually, the way they can determine how long the person has been dead. If it's been a really long time, carbon dating of the tissues is possible also. Carbon levels rise as time goes by and decomposition turns the flesh to mush." 

He held up a hand as a stop sign. "Thanks, Scully, but I'd rather not know the rest." 

I chuckled. "You can look at pictures of blood and guts all day, go slumming in the mind of criminals, but the thought of a little rigor mortis and decomposition turns your stomach." 

"Hey, we all have our quirks. Somehow talking about it is worse than seeing it." 

"You're a strange man, Mulder, did anybody ever tell you that?" 

He smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact, they have. Someone seems to mention it nearly every day for the past seven years or so." 

I smiled at him. "Yeah, well, you're MY strange man now, and don't you forget it." 

"Oh, don't worry. I won't." Then he caught me off guard when he heaved the mattress up onto its side, holding its bulk over his head. 

"Mulder, what are you...?" 

"[Oh.My.God](http://Oh.My.God)/." 

"What?" I flew across the room and rounded the foot of the bed to see what he had found. And I gasped, my hand going involuntarily to my throat. There was a piece of human skin stretched out over the springs, which were exposed without the normal cover of a box spring mattress. It looked to be the front of a woman, the nipples and navel visible, though stretched taut and out of proportion. There was a design drawn in the skin, most likely with a surgeon's small scalpel. Nothing was written on it, but there were numerous colored stick pins along the route of the lines. 

I swallowed and then whispered. "You think this is easier to take than talking about post-mortem analysis?" 

"Maybe I should rethink my answer on that one." 

"Maybe." He shoved hard and the mattress tipped over and off the bed onto the floor. We stood staring at it. 

"What the hell is it?" 

"It's a map of some kind. A map to keep track of something, most likely his victims." 

"Shades of Gaines. Ever read about him?" 

"The guy who made a suit out of human skin. Yeah, ever behavioral profiler has read about him. I'm surprised you did though." 

"What are the lines?" 

"I don't know. They could be constellations, they could be roads. I just don't know, but if we can figure this out, we'll have found his pattern. I'm sure of it. All this stuff just doesn't add up. He's too inconsistent. I've never seen such a disorderly serial killer. It doesn't make sense." 

"There's a first time for everything." 

"No, I don't think so in this case. I don't think he's disorganized at all. He's too neat." 

"But you just said he was." 

"It looks that way. What I really think is that I just haven't seen the pattern in the chaos yet. It's there, I'm just not finding it. It's bugging the hell out of me." 

"I can't believe nobody checked under the fucking mattress!" 

Mulder just shook his head. "They found those pictures and they didn't look any further. They didn't need to figure out who he was, they already knew." 

"Yeah, but you still do a thorough search, just in case. You never know what you'll turn up." 

"Don't be too hard on them, Scully, they are small town cops. They've never had to do this kind of investigating. That's why they called us in. They didn't even know where to start." 

"Yeah, but Simpson and the Barnacles were in here and they certainly should have gone over the place." 

He nodded his head. "Yeah, well, we already know how good they are at their jobs." 

"Let's not be catty." 

"Oh, let's, it's so much fun." 

I didn't answer. I just took out my notebook and jotted down a description. "Hey, how many colors of push pins are there?" 

"I don't know. Why?" he asked. 

"I'm not sure. But see, there are quite a few." He was silent a moment and started listing them off as I wrote them down. 

"Maroon, purple, light blue, clear, dark green, silver, red, light green, dark blue, black, yellow and a third blue, I guess you'd call it medium blue." 

"How many is that?" 

"Twelve." 

"Twelve, hmm, twelve months a year." 

"That's it!" 

"What?" 

"One color for each month. Birthstones! What are they?" 

"Uh, January is garnet, February is amethyst, March is aquamarine, April is diamond, may is emerald, June is pearl, July is ruby, August is ... peridot I think, September is sapphire. October, I'm not sure, Tourmaline I think, that could be almost any color. But November is Topaz and December is Turquoise, which can also be various colors from blue to green." 

"How do you know all this?" 

"You're joking right? A grown unmarried woman who doesn't know her gemstones? Sure, right. Fat chance!" 

He smiled and shook his head at that. "I never took you for a gold digger, Scully." 

"I'm not, but every girl dreams of having a rock on her finger, let's face it." He looked at me. His scrutiny was suddenly intense. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have another idea about our monster, here?" 

"No." 

"Then what?" 

His voice was barely above a whisper. "Do you want a ring on your finger, Scully?" 

My head jerked up to meet his eyes at that comment. He was dead serious. Oh God. "I...yes, I do, but not right this minute." 

He nodded. "I couldn't give you one right this minute." 

"I mean, yes, in the future, I think I would like that. Someday." I looked at my shoes. 

"Someday?" 

"Yeah, but not yet." 

"Scully." 

"Yeah?" 

"Be sure to let me know when 'someday' comes, all right?" I looked up at him then and the love I saw for me was so apparent in his eyes, I felt myself get choked up. 

"Mulder, be honest, is that something you want? To be married, tied down." 

"Yes. I've always wanted it. Just never found the right woman." I didn't know what to say so I just stared at him. "I have now though," he whispered, never breaking eye contact. I could see his bottom lip quiver a little and he bit it with his top teeth to keep it still. 

"Oh Mulder, this is really new for us. Are you sure you know what you're saying?" 

"Positive. And it isn't new for me, Scully." He reached out and pulled me into an embrace, resting his chin on my head. "I've been in love with you for a long time." 

"Mulder, I want to talk about this, I really do, but this isn't a good time." He gave me a sharp squeeze and released me, stepping back. 

"You're right. Sorry." 

"Don't be sorry." He wouldn't look at me now. I stepped back into him and reached up to cradle his face in my hands. "I'm not brushing you off, Mulder, or this topic." He didn't respond. "I promise we'll talk some more about it." 

He swallowed hard. "O.K., I know I shouldn't have brought it up right now. I have to get used to ... keeping work separate." 

I smiled. "It will take practice for both of us, but we have to do it." 

"I know. O.K., let's get to work then." 

"Are you O.K.?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

"That's my line." 

He smiled then. "I'm O.K., I promise." 

I smiled back and dropped my hands. "O.K., so what now?" 

"Well, I say we get the camera guy in here from the excavation team and then we have forensics come in here and pack this up." 

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the woman who was the head of the forensics team. She answered on the third ring.  <Hello, Agent Vega here.>

"Agent Vega, this is Dana Scully." 

<Oh, hi Agent Scully. How's it going out there? We haven't gotten back out there yet today. We are all bushed. Worked straight through the weekend but I think we found all the bodies. I really don't think we missed any. And you were right, we have exactly 50 bodies.>

"That's plenty." 

<No shit, huh? What's up?>

"Sorry to bug you, but I need your photographer out here again." 

<More Voodoo stuff?>

"No, we found something rather chilling in the guy's bedroom." 

<Is that where you are?>

"Yes." 

<I thought the police and the Rat pack went over the place already.>

"They did." 

She chuckled. <I take it they weren't very thorough?>

"Well, let's just say they looked under the bed but didn't look under the mattress." 

<Uh, oh.>

"Yeah, we have a human skin here, anterior side, woman, dried and cured like leather, really gross." 

<Eewww.>

"Yeah, and it's carved up with some sort of patterns with push pins in it. My partner thinks he has figured out what it means but I want the pictures before anyone else knows about this." 

<Sure thing, I'll send Alonzo out right away.> She heard her talking away from the phone. <Hey, Al, head's up. You need to get back out to the farm right away to take pictures for Agents Scully and Mulder. They have another goody.>

"Good, tell him to keep quiet for now. We'll tell everyone as soon as the pictures are in the bag." 

<He's on his way.>

"Thanks." 

<No problem. Oh, and Agent Scully?>

"Yeah?" 

<"I've heard the rumors about you and your partner.>

"Rumors?" I felt perspiration break out on my forehead. Had someone seen us at the restaurant the other night? 

<Yeah, about how weird he is and stuff. And I had heard how smart you were too and how everyone said you were a strange pair. But I just wanted you to know that I always form my own opinion about people and I'd never met you before this case. And in my opinion, you two are crack agents. I gotta tell you. You aren't the only one with no love lost for Simpson and Company. And I laughed my ass off when they told me about you discovering the burial ground. Simpson must have been sputtering. I wish I'd been there to see it. Of course, it's just the cherry on top when a woman gets to show that asshole up!>

I laughed now, feeling relief wash through me that I had misinterpreted her comment. A guilty conscious would do that for you. "Thanks for the thumbs up Agent Vega. If it wasn't such a gruesome find, it would have been funnier." 

<Call me Mercedes. And yes, I mean no disrespect to the dead. And gruesome doesn't even begin to describe some of these wounds.>

"Say, can you check with your team and see if any of the bodies are ... well, missing the skin off the front of their bodies?" 

<Yeah, I'll check, although I think somebody would have told me if they found something like that. Then again, it's been a circus out there and here, just because of the volume.>

"Are you at the morgue?" 

<Yes.>

"Well, we'll stay here and wait for Alonzo, then we'll head over there to have a look at the bodies so far." 

<Sounds good. See you in a bit. And hey.>

"Yeah?" 

<Say hello to that sexy partner of yours. Nobody told me he was such a hunk!>

I smirked. Mulder was watching me with an odd look on his face. I looked over at him. "I will be sure to tell my sexy hunk of a partner you said so." 

<No! Don't do that! Geez! He's standing right there, isn't he?>

"Yup!" 

<That is mean, Dana. Really mean! I'm mortified now!>

"Don't be, he's smiling like the idiot egomaniac that he is." 

<Oh man! Is he taken?>

The smile left my face instantly and I took a deep breath. I forgot what this feeling was like. Having other women interested in him was going to bother me more now. I couldn't blame them. Just look at him for Christ's sake, but still. My silence must have been telling. 

She asked quietly, <Oh God, he's yours, isn't he?>

"Um, look Mercedes, I'm sorry, you just caught me off guard." 

<I'm sorry, Dana, I didn't mean to imply anything. I was just having fun with you.>

"It's O.K., I guess I just gave myself away, huh?" 

<Well, yeah, you did. But it's O.K. I really was just joking. I have a boyfriend. Alonzo actually. I just got caught up in the girl talk.>

"I'm sorry, Mercedes, this is stupid. I wasn't even threatened. Um, this is a really, really new thing." 

<Oh, I get it.>

"I haven't figured out how to handle comments ... like that yet. I have to ask that you please keep it to yourself." 

<Of course! Hey, your secret's safe with me. Seriously. I think it's great. And I think you are one lucky woman.>

I smiled to myself. "Yeah, I think so too." 

<Well, I'll see you in a couple of hours.>

"Yeah, at least two or more. It takes about 45 minutes to drive out here from town." 

<And 45 back, yeah, so that's two hours right there. Anyway, I'll see you whenever you get here and I'll ask around about the skin thing. That's important. Because if there isn't one missing the skin, then we still have another victim to find.>

"O.K., see you later." 

<Chow, girl. Take care of that man of yours.>

"You're going to tease the shit out of me over this, aren't you?" 

She laughed. <Maybe. Bye now.> And she hung up. 

I put the phone in my pocket of my trench coat and looked up to find Mulder with an inquisitive look on his face. "I take it she guessed about us?" 

"Yes." 

"Shit." 

"It's O.K. I think she will keep her mouth shut." 

"Not likely." 

"No, I think she will. She's had to climb the ladder too. I think she knows how damaging it can be to a woman to be caught involved with a colleague. People automatically assume that they slept their way into their position. I think she respects that it would hurt me if it got out. 

"Great. Another way I can hurt you." 

"Oh Mulder, that's not what I mean." 

"It's true though. I'd probably get a high five for melting the Ice Queen. You'd get ridicule and condescension." 

"Yeah, well, welcome to the real world, Mulder. The double standard didn't just disappear when women got the vote." 

"I know, it just bugs me, that's all. I know we have to keep it a secret at work. But it bugs me that we have to hide it at all." 

"I know, but it won't be so bad. If people find out, we'll deal with the consequences, that's all. Let's not worry about it until it happens, O.K.?" 

"Yeah, I suppose we have enough to worry about right now." 

He pulled out his cell phone and called the Sheriff. <Sheriff Brad Cole.>

"Hi, Sheriff, Agent Mulder here." 

<Hey, what can I do for you?>

"I need you to check the identity papers on the victims and make a list of their birthdays." 

<O.K., what's up?>

"I'm not sure yet. I think I may have figured out a basis for his pattern, but I need the birthdays and then I will need to match them up with some other evidence and see what sifts out." 

<Sure thing. I'll get right on it.>

"We'll be back in town in about three hours or so. Agent Scully has to go to the morgue, and I will come see you." 

<Sounds like a plan to me. I'll be here, list in hand.>

"Thanks, Sheriff, you've been a tremendous help. We really appreciate it." 

<No problem. I'm glad to be able to contribute anything at all.>

"Well, thanks again." 

<You bet, see you later.>

"See you, Sheriff." He hung up. 

"He really is a good guy, isn't he?" I asked. 

"Yeah, I think so. He really wants to help. I think he's actually glad when I ask him to do something. He feels a bit inadequate here I think. But unlike a lot of macho city cops, he doesn't get resentful, he wants to help instead." 

"That's a switch." 

"Yeah, a nice one though, huh?" I nodded. "Now if we could just get rid of Simpson and the Rat pack, we'd be all set!" 

"Not likely. Not this time. He will be quick to remind us that this is HIS investigation." 

"Yeah, and he's contributed so much thus far." 

I chuckled. "Oh well, we're stuck with them for now, so we may as well make the best of it." 

"Yeah." He was silent a moment. "You know what?" 

"What?" 

"I want to spend the night out here tomorrow night." 

"You're kidding, right?" 

"No. I have a gut feeling that he is going to show on Halloween. I don't know why." 

"And you want to be here to nab him?" 

"Yes. I don't think Simpson and crew could be discreet enough or quiet enough to pull off a stake out in this house. But we could." 

"Should we tell them we are going to do it." 

"We?" 

"You honestly don't think I'm going to let you stay out here by yourself, do you?" 

"The deputy will be outside if I need help." 

"No way, Mulder!" 

"This guy is a sick bastard, Scully. And you are a juicy target." 

"Don't start this Mulder. He went after just as many boys as girls, and none of them was over the age of 25. That's one. And second, you better not start trying to play Tarzan with me, leave the little woman at home, cause that shit isn't going to fly!" I was nearly shouting now. I couldn't believe he would even suggest that I stay behind. 

He held up his hands in surrender. "O.K., O.K., I didn't mean to imply anything. Jesus, Scully, don't you know by now that I believe you can handle yourself? I've seen you take men twice your size to their knees. And I know you're a crack shot! That's not what I meant at all. You're insulted that I want you safe? Well, I'm insulted that you think my motives have anything to do with disrespecting your abilities!" 

Now we were both upset. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. "Boy, this is going to be hard, isn't it?" 

"I think so." 

"Look, Mulder, I'm sorry I overreacted. But you can't start that. We are still partners. Just because we are partners in every sense of the word now doesn't mean that things in the field are going to change. I don't want them to change." 

"Neither do I. I'm sorry Scully." He was silent for a moment. "Now that I have you, I'm already terrified of losing you. If something happens to you, my life is over. Do you realize that?" 

I hugged him to me. "Did it ever occur to you that I feel the same way about you?" 

"No." 

"Well I do, silly. I'd be devastated if I lost you, even before Friday night, I would have been devastated. I have been devastated when I thought you were going to die. But that's part of the job we do. The job we BOTH do. And just because we're getting nookie from each other now doesn't change that." 

"Nookie?" 

I chuckled. "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?" 

"Yes." 

"We just have to watch each other's backs the best we can, just like always and do everything we can to insure that both of us stay as safe as possible when we're on the job. That's the best we can do. But we can't look out for each other is we split up." 

He sighed. "You're right, of course. You're always right." 

I stepped away. "Are we O.K.?" 

He smiled and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "Yeah, we're O.K." 

Just then the front door slammed and banging could be heard at the foot of the stairs as equipment was jostled through the doorway. "That must be Alonzo." 

"Let's give him a hand." 

* * *

**THE COUNTY MORGUE**  
**RURAL WEST VIRGINIA**  
**OCTOBER 30, 2000 - 2:00 PM**

Mercedes Vega was a tall willowy brunette with almond eyes and the olive skin of her Hispanic heritage. She had full lips and high cheekbones and stood 5' 9" in her stocking feet. In short, she was gorgeous. I realized instantly from the few comments that she made that she had taken a lot of shit to get where she was. She was tough as nails, but retained her sense of humor. In this business, it was a must. Her specialty was the forensic science. 

She was a doctor, but not a medical doctor. Her doctorate was in archeology, then she had gone on to get another degree in forensics and joined the FBI as a forensic excavation expert. She didn't wear a speck of make up and wore her dark hair back in a severe pony tail that fell to her shoulders. But there was no hiding her beauty. I had a moment's cringe of jealousy when I first laid eyes on her again after her comment about Mulder. 

But within moments she had me at ease, laughing and joking. She talked about Alonzo and obviously adored him and I kicked myself for being so insecure. Mulder was in love with me. I knew that. But I guess I would always get a twinge of nervousness around leggy brunettes, knowing that the women in his past were of that variety. 

"Whewwww!" I whistled as I looked at umpteenth body. They were beyond gruesome. Mercedes was right. I'd seen a lot of weird stuff in my day and I thought I'd seen it as gross as it gets. But these bodies were bar none, the most disgusting, gruesome sights I had ever seen. 

Mercedes said, "This shit will give you nightmares. This guy likes his scalpels. Interesting thing. Some of these cuts are sloppy, others are like surgical precision incisions. I'm not done cataloguing all the wounds on the bodies. It's going to take me days." 

"Damn. We have to find this guy. How the hell did he get away with this for so long?" 

"I don't know. Scary, isn't it?" 

"That's the problem in small towns sometimes. Nobody thinks this kind of thing is going to happen in their back yard and they just don't pick up on the signals." 

"What about the kid that called in to the show and started all this?'" 

"They traced the call." 

"And?" 

"It was a phone booth." 

"Shit." 

"Yeah. We were hoping to find the kid and secret him in to question him some more. He might know more about Lockhart's habits or hang outs if he ran with his father, but they didn't even get name." 

"Have you seen the news lately?" 

"No, and I don't want to." 

"It's hit the news, but surprisingly, the details are slim. They are still going on about that haunted house crap. Apparently the fact that it's Halloween, that angle was too good to pass up." 

"Good if the details are slim, I want to keep it that way. No doubt this guy has his nose to a TV screen and he doesn't need to know what our next move is going to be." 

"Where's your partner?" 

"He's at the Sheriff's office getting a list of birthdays." 

"Alonzo said that skin was pretty freaky. Two guys from my team are on their way out to bag it up." 

"Good." 

"Your partner has an idea what it means?" 

"I think so. It's hard to tell with him sometimes. He doesn't give away much when he's working on a hunch or an idea. Then all of a sudden he lays it out for you and you smack your head like 'Wow, I could have had a V-8!" 

She grinned. "He's really good at that sort of thing, isn't he." 

I looked at her. "Mercedes, you have no idea. The man is brilliant, and I'm not just saying that because he's my partner. If anyone can figure this guy out, it's Mulder. If he can't do it, nobody can." 

"I've heard about the Monty Propps case." 

"Yeah, his claim to fame and his albatross, all in one. Everyone has heard about it and they won't let him forget it. Won't let him forget that 'he could have been somebody'. As if he cares." 

"He was on the fast track. That's why most of them can't figure out why he left Behavioral Science." 

"It's a long story." 

"I'll bet." 

"Unfortunately, just because we are blessed with being good at something, doesn't mean we like doing it." 

"Ain't that the truth. So you're saying that he didn't like profiling." 

"I think he did in the beginning, but then it started to get to him. Getting inside the heads of the sickest people in the world can do weird things to your psyche and I think it was staring to take its toll on him mentally. Then he found the X-Files and that was the beginning of his defection from Behavioral Science." 

"I can see how that would get to you. You have to be a special kind of person to do that work. Mental health is more important than any job. Suicide statistics are high in that profession. So now he just puts that genius to work somewhere else. Good for him." 

I smiled at her. "Yeah, he does. He makes leaps of intuitive thinking that will give the average person a gigantic migraine trying to keep up." 

"I take it you're not average." 

I laughed. "Yeah, I am. He ties my gray cells in a knot on a regular basis!" 

"You love it." 

"Yeah, I do. Makes me push the envelope, ya know?" 

"Yeah. You're a lucky woman, Dana." 

"I know it too." 

"So am I." 

"Alonzo seems like a sweet guy. Also in the hunk department." 

"Yeah, different from your man, but a hunk all the same." 

"He must work out." 

"Yeah, he does. Those pecs kill me. One look at his bare chest and I'm a puddle of goo." 

I laughed. "I prefer the tall and lanky type." 

"I noticed!" We laughed and continued our tour of the morgue drawers. 

* * *

* * *

**PART 5 - R**

**IN A CAR SOMEWHERE IN RURAL WEST VIRGINIA** **TUESDAY EVENING**  
**OCTOBER 31, 2000 - 08:00 PM**

The sun was setting as drove back out to the farm. We were both dressed in black jeans, and black turtlenecks that we had gone out and bought at a local Gap the next town over.. I had bought black sneakers and Mulder was wearing black combat boots that he had brought with him. We were both wearing our regulation Sigs in holsters at our waists, plus small .22 pistols in shoulder holsters under our trench coats. Mulder also had a two-shot Derringer strapped to his boot. In sort, we were armed to teeth and ready to hide. We debated about whether to hide out in the barn or the house and ultimately decided on the house. 

We were both lost in our own thoughts as he drove off the black top onto the dirt road that would take us the rest of the way. He broke the silence. "Scully, are you scared?" 

"Not yet. I must say though, Mulder. You are the only person in the world who get me at the age of 37 to go to a haunted house on Halloween." 

"I thought you didn't believe that it was haunted." 

"I don't." 

"It doesn't bother you that it's Halloween?" 

"No, it's not my favorite holiday, but I've always enjoyed it. We kids used to raise hell every year on the base at Halloween." 

"Oh, ho! Were you a toilet paper Queen?" 

"You bet. Every tree on our block!" 

"No mailbox smashing, I hope." 

"No, not unless we wanted Ahab to beat us to pulp! I figured I had one asshole and that was plenty. I didn't need to gain another one by engaging in destruction of private property. Actually, mailboxes would be a federal offense, although I didn't think of that way back then." 

"Nothing like a little healthy fear of the folks to keep a kid in line, huh?" 

"You know it." I saw the look on his face and was suddenly ashamed that I hadn't realized where this conversation was going. "Oh, Mulder, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so insensitive." 

"You weren't. Don't worry about it. It's not your fault my father beat me." 

"You never really told me that much about it. I don't know how bad it was. I mean, I know any beating is bad, but ... how bad was it?" 

"Bad." 

"You want to tell me." 

He sighed deeply. "Not really, but I guess I should." 

"You don't have to." 

"Before Samantha, it was just the belt. I mean, lots of parents whack their kids with a belt, right?" 

"I guess so, my folks never did." 

"They never hit you?" 

"Not really. My mother whacked us on the bottoms with a wooden spoon sometimes when we were really small to teach us a lesson. But she never raised welts or anything. Just hit us hard enough to make it sting. It was more surprising and humiliating than anything else." 

"Wooden spoon, huh? Interesting choice of weapons." 

"Only an FBI agent would call a wooden spoon a weapon!" 

He smiled. "Yeah, well, after Samantha disappeared, some pretty weird shit turned into weapons in the Mulder household." 

"Tell me. Maybe it will help you to talk about it." 

"God, it's really gorgeous out here, you know it? Look at all the colors on the trees. I know it's almost dark now, but I really should have been paying more attention during the day. I'll bet the foliage is spectacular." 

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Mulder. Just say so." 

"I talked to a shrink once when I was leaving Behavioral Science. I needed to be 'debriefed'. Interesting euphemism. Anyway, I think he was the only person I ever talked to about any of it and I didn't really tell him any details, just that I'd been hit a lot." 

"Do you know why he did it?" 

"He hated his life. He hated his career and the things that he'd done and the choices he had made and he took it all out on me because I was an easy target. I such a wimp that it was easy to pick on me too. I had not self-esteem. I already blamed myself for not being able to save Samantha and I fed right into his bullshit. Originally, I thought he hated me. I thought he blamed me for Samantha. I did, so why shouldn't he? That was my thinking at the time. I thought I deserved it." 

"You know differently now, don't you?" 

"Yes. Intellectually. When I studied at Oxford I learned all about the 'survivor syndrome', that people go through when they lose a loved one to violent crime. I equated it to our situation and realized that my father hated himself more than he ever hated me or my mother. But to admit he had screwed up would have been too much to bear and keep on living, so he just kept taking out his self-hatred on us. Classic transference." 

"Intellectually? You said you know different intellectually. Does that mean that you still don't really believe that you were blameless." 

"Emotionally, I have never been able to reconcile that I was blameless. Emotionally, I've never been able to accept that there wasn't SOMETHING I should have or could have done." 

"There wasn't you know. You were just a kid." 

"Like I said, I know that now. Intellectually. But the beatings reinforced my own self loathing and grief over the situation and I don't think I'll ever be rid of all of it. But I got over it enough to keep living and still try to make something of myself." 

"What did he do to you to make you so down on yourself? It kills me that such a brilliant, lovable , compassionate man can think so little of himself." 

He glanced over at me and then back at the road. "Is that really the way you see me, Scully?" 

"Yes, it is." 

"God, I love you more every day, you know that?" 

I reached over and rested my hand on his thigh and gave it a squeeze. "I'm going to work on improving your self-esteem. I think I'm going to make that MY quest." 

"Knock yourself out, Babe!" 

I laughed. "I might change my mind if you keep calling me Babe, though!" 

He chuckled. "I'm just teasing." 

"I know you are. So tell me more. I want to know everything about you. I want to know what makes you tick. I want to know why you do the things you do. Give me something to work with here!" 

He smiled, but then it faded and he began to speak quietly. "After Samantha, he wouldn't just hit me on the ass with a belt. He started with the open handed slaps to the side of face. They were hard enough to hurt but never hard enough to leave a bump. They were just shocking. But then he escalated into punching with a closed fist. He would hit me in the back as I walked away from him, or whack the backs of my legs with the belt hard enough to leave a welt. Then, well, then he would pick fights with me and end up hitting me with whatever was handy. Sometimes it was a book or something. One time he broke a water glass over the back of my head. It's amazing I have any brain left at all. The uncanny thing was that he always seemed to be clever enough to hit me where the bruises or lumps couldn't be seen. I grew my hair longer in those days to cover the lumps on my head. I never wore shorts because my legs were such a mess." 

"Holy shit, Mulder. I had no idea it was that bad." 

"Yeah, regular too. It seems I was his only means of stress relief. He would be maddeningly calm afterwards. It was so frightening. He would go from a screaming, raving lunatic to a calm, even toned, perfectly reasonable human being. It was like living with Dr. Jekyle and Mr. Hyde. You just never knew what would set him off." 

"What ended it?" 

"I got pissed. Despite my lack of self-esteem, I was athletic and good at sports. I was tall, skinny and goofy. But I could run and fairly well disproved the notion that 'white men can't jump.'" I laughed at that. "I played basketball and soccer and baseball. Later on, I ran on the track team one year and loved it. So began my love affair with running. Then I decided that if I was going to stop wearing sweat and start wearing shorts on these teams, I was going to have to do something about the marks on my legs. Weird how my desire to excel at sports was the catalyst for me to start fighting back. Not that it was wrong. Not that I was hurting. Not that I was just that pissed. But because I wanted to wear shorts! Stupid, huh?" 

"No. You were just looking for an excuse that had nothing to do with the actual reasons for the beatings. Something unrelated so you could detach. You wanted it to stop, but you didn't want to deal with it head on. You wanted a totally unrelated excuse to stop it. Then you could pretend that it wasn't a big deal, just a means to an end." 

"When did you become the psychology major?" 

"That's just basic child reasoning. Avoidance and denial is common in abused children. They hate the beatings but they secretly yearn for the approval of their parents. They don't have the life experience yet to know that parents can be wrong. They don't understand that nine times out of ten the parents beatings have nothing to do with how the parent feels about them per se. Rather, it's about the parent's inability to cope with life on life's terms." 

"You sure you didn't study psychology?" 

"I'm sure. Continue on." 

"Well, I decided to start working out. I was in good shape and I could run for miles, but I was still a tall, skinny geek. So I started lifting weights and drinking protein drinks and I jacked up." 

"Jacked up?" 

"Got the nautilus puff." 

"Nautilus puff?" 

He laughed again. "I've finally hit upon a lingo in which you cannot compete with me." 

"The language of the male testosterone hormone?" 

"Yeah, that one." 

"Go on." 

"In short, I grew some biceps, some pecs and some quadriceps." 

"I noticed." 

"Thank you for noticing by the way." 

"I've always noticed." 

He smiled at me again. "Shit, woman, I wish I'd known this years ago." 

"It wouldn't have been as good then." 

"Why not?" 

"Because we both had to find ourselves and our place in the world. We both had to learn to trust each other first and be good friends to one another. We had to miss each other, save each other and know what it was like to be devastated when the other one was gone. We needed all those experiences to realize and accept what we meant to each other. We have the best foundation a couple can have for a relationship. Implicit trust, friendship born of hardship. All that allows us to have unconditional love. We've tested each other's trust and friendship and loyalty and we passed each other's tests. We needed to do that. It happened when it was time for it to happen. I'm glad we didn't do this sooner. I would have been too insecure. I'm insecure anyway." 

"You're lying. You definitely took studied psychology!" 

"Stop being glib!" 

"O.K. What the hell do have to be insecure about? You're so smart it makes my head spin. You're gorgeous and sexy beyond belief and have no idea how beautiful you are. Do you know what a devastating package that is?" 

"Package?" 

"You know what I mean. Most beautiful women ... correction, most beautiful women know they are beautiful and they use it to manipulate the people around them. I hate that. Then there are the bubble headed bleach blondes with nothing but air in their heads. That's not an exclusive quality to blondes, I'm just trying to make a point. You are beautiful AND incredibly smart, AND incredibly loving, loyal, compassionate and trustworthy. Where's the insecurity coming from?" 

"I was actually a little jealous when Mercedes called you a sexy hunk and then asked me if you were taken." 

"She asked if I was taken? You didn't tell me that part." 

"She was just trying to joke with me. She's head over heels for Alonzo, but I didn't know that at the moment. Just knowing some other woman might go after you ... I don't know. I guess this is just so new. Besides, I don't share your opinion about my looks, Mulder. I was always this pale little kid with freckles. Now when I Iook in a mirror, I see a tiny woman with pale skin and freckles. I could never compete with the voluptuous blondes and leggy brunettes in high school or college or grad school. They had a new boyfriend every week and the only men I attracted were men old enough to be my father. You take what you can get, ya know? I know I've got a brain in my head but you can run circles around me any day." 

"That's not true and you know it. Take it from me, Scully, you're beautiful. And if guys weren't asking you out it's because they were immature, insecure idiots who were threatened by your brain. And let me clear this up for you. You never have any reason to be jealous of any woman. I'm yours, 100% if you'll have me. I can't remember the last time I looked at another woman with anything romantic in mind. No one is going to take me away from you. The only thing that is going to get rid of me is you telling me to go take a hike. Mercedes Benz, or whatever her name is could sneak into my bedroom at night, naked and I would throw her out." 

"You know what, Mulder? I think we are going to be good for each other's self-esteem, what do you think?" 

"Yeah. I know mine's improved already." 

I was smiling a lot more in the last few days and it felt good. "So finish your story." 

"Do I have to?" 

"No, but you've gotten this far." 

"I guess so. Well, the Reader's Digest Condensed version is that I grew up, got muscles, and got sick and tired of being sick and tired. One day he took a swing. I blocked it, sucker punched him in the gut and pinned him against the wall. It was the last thing he expected from me. I was 18 years old. He'd been beating me for six years. I told him the next time he hit me was going to be his last, because if I didn't kill him first, I'd have his ass in jail so fast it would make his head spin." 

"Did that work?" 

"Evidently. He never touched me again. My parents split up while I was away in my freshman year at Oxford. I came home for break and he was gone. We barely spoke for the next ten years. I don't know if the beating stopped because he just wasn't there, or because of what I did, but in that brief period of six months between then and when I left for college, he didn't touch me. He didn't speak to me either, but he didn't touch me. And I was fine with that." 

"Were you?" 

"I thought so at the time. I was just so relieved not to be frightened anymore. He really was a bigger wimp than I ever thought of being. He was just a bully who was mad at the world, for whatever reason. I'm sure he thought that what he did at the State Department was noble. I think he was sorry in the end and was trying to tell me the truth when he was killed. Penance, clean house before you die, whatever. But he never got it out." 

"I know. I'm sorry. It must be tough to have all that unresolved between you when he died." 

"Yeah. I think that upset me more than his death. I was so ANGRY that he hadn't told me whatever he was going to tell me sooner. I was so ANGRY that my chance to have a real conversation with him was ripped away. ANGRY that I was deprived of hearing him apologize for lying to me all those years. Pretty selfish, huh?" 

"No, perfectly reasonable. You had every right to want those things. But if you don't accept that you will never have them now, it will eat you up inside until there's nothing left. I don't want you to end up old and bitter like him." 

"I won't. I have you to kick my ass if I start doing that." He grinned at me. "No more about my shitty childhood. We're almost there. Check out the moon, Scully. It's so bright, it's almost like daylight out here." 

"Spooky." 

"Could you choose another word please?" he teased. I smiled. "Guess what I got?" 

"What?" 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of Hershey's Kisses, proudly displaying them on his palm. "Want a candy little, girl?" 

I laughed. "You're a sick man. Do you know that?" 

"The sickest." 

"No, no the sickest, but undoubtedly the weirdest." I snatched up a candy, unwrapping the silver foil and popping it into my mouth. 

"I can live with weird." 

"Good thing, I don't think you have a prayer of escaping it." 

"Hey, I thought you were going to try and boost my ego!" 

"Maybe I should rethink my decision." 

* * *

**LOCKHART FARM**  
**PLANTATION HOUSE**  
**OCTOBER 31, 2000 - 9:00 PM**

We sat on the top step of the stairs in darkness, just waiting. We had both napped earlier so that we would be able to stay up through the night. We could always cat nap, taking turns if we needed to. But we were both awake then and eager to take the chance to talk. It seemed so ironic that we'd been talking each other's ears off for seven years and there were still plenty of things that we didn't know about each other. 

We had made a game plan and then sat down to wait, talking softy. In the eerie silence of the house, it seemed to weird to talk in normal tones so we whispered. The only other sound had been the incessant snick of the pendulum swaying in the grandfather clock in the living room off to the side of the bottom of the stairs. When it let out it's gong at midnight, I had nearly jumped out of my skin, my heart going from zero to racing in two seconds. 

"Not haunted, huh, Scully?" 

"Just because I'm jumpy, doesn't mean it's haunted." Mulder didn't comment but turned sideways, leaning his back against the wall and pulled me in between his legs, my back to his chest. We sat that way for hours telling stories about our childhood. 

A sudden racket kicked up across the field toward the barn making us both jump. It sounded like a squadron of squealing baby pigs. We both leaped to our feet and ran into the bedroom, looking out the window. 

The moon was incredibly bright, casting the entire area in an eerie glow as though it were twilight. I shivered and looked toward the barn, pointing. Mulder turned his head to follow my gaze. We watched as the largest flock of bats I think I've ever seen, poured out of the loft window in the barn. The flew high and careened off into the sky, their black bodies dotting out the glow of the moon. Mulder whistled softly through his teeth. He couldn't resist a smart ass remark. "So Scully, I'm thiinnkkiiinnn', shades of 'The Birds?'" 

I chuckled at his blatant Hitchcock reference to the movie, "The Birds". These were bats, of course, but it did look like a staged performance from a movie. "Maybe it's the barn that's haunted." 

"By birds?" 

"No, bats!" He suddenly went still and I felt him stiffen against my back. There were no lights on in the house, so I knew it was unlikely that anyone could see us in the window all dressed in black. I pulled out a black knitted cap and slipped it on. I knew my hair could be as loud as a beacon against an otherwise colorless background. Mulder didn't know I had the hat and nodded his approval. "What is it?" I whispered. 

"Something made those bats haul ass out of that barn." 

"Dinner time?" I cracked. 

"I don't think so. They were in too much of a hurry. Plus, I don't remember that window in the loft being open, do you?" 

Now it was my turn to stiffen as my mind frantically raced, trying to remember if I'd even looked at that window on my one trip up the ladder to that loft. "I honestly don't remember, Mulder. I'm sorry. I was only up there once and I can't recall even noticing the window." 

He sighed. "We better check it out, Scully." 

"O.K., let's go." 

We crept out of the house by the back door and crossed the expanse of lawn between the house and the barn, trying to hide in the shadows cast by the barn blocking the light of the moon. We drew our weapons as we approached. It was one night where I wished the moon was not so brilliantly lit up. It made sneaking a bit more difficult. We reached the side of the barn and pressed our backs to the wall, listening to the silence. A minute or so passed and Mulder tapped my shoulder and pointed to the rear of the barn. I nodded and followed. We crouched and made our way to the rear of the barn where some rotted board in the wall had formed cracks behind the crude alter that we had discovered at the beginning of the case. We each picked a crack and peered into the darkness just as a match was struck, burning my cornea and causing me to jerk my head away from the wall. I looked at Mulder. He was blinking rapidly, apparently having had the same thing happen to him. 

My heart rate sped up as I felt the rush of adrenaline that precedes an intense situation. We both pressed our eyes back to wall and watched as a man in overalls, early 40's, with thinning hair lit four different candles on the alter. He began mumbling to himself and raising his palms toward the ceiling in some sort of invocation. I tapped Mulder and swirled my arm in a circle, indicating that we should circle around to the front of the building. Over the years we had developed an intricate system of hand and arm signals to avoid speech. Some were taught at the academy, but some we had developed on our own. It allowed us, along with our ability to read each other's faces, to have a fairly involved conversation without uttering a word. It was disconcerting to a lot of people who had accidentally witnessed us doing it, but we didn't really care. 

He indicated that I should go one way and he should go the other. I turned and then heard a distinctive moan from inside the barn. It was weak and faint but definitely not from the man. We were assuming that the man was Lockhart. The police had come up with one photo of the man from a county fair but it was ten years old. No other pictures seemed to exist of him and he had no record. So there was no mug shot either. We made eye contact, conveying the urgency to take action. The dirt bag had a victim with him. 

We split up to circle the barn and met up at the front door, the only entrance to the barn. The guy was obviously cocky in his ability to come and go undetected as he had left the door ajar, hanging open about a foot. I slipped in sideways, careful not the jostle the door and Mulder followed. We stood still waiting for our eyes to adjust to the gloom. You didn't realize how much light the moon had cast until it was taken away. 

The door to the 'tack room' which held all his paraphernalia was open and a tiny glow from the meager candle flames slipped into this front area of the barn. We crouched again after having our eyes adjust, listening to him mumble and cant. Either it was nonsense or a foreign language I'd never heard because I couldn't understand a word he was saying. As we crept down the line of stalls on the side, closing in on the back of the barn and the door to the altar room, we heard the moan again. If we hadn't been trying to be so silent, we would have missed it, it was so faint. 

Mulder spun around on silent feet and peered over the top of a stall door. I wasn't tall enough to see but he pointed frantically. Obviously there was someone in there. I saw him put his finger to his lips, looking over the door. He didn't dare utter a 'Shhh' in the silence. So slowly, it made every nerve in my body ready to crack, he lifted the metal latch on the door to the stall. He surprised me when he pulled a pick lock gun out of his pocket and handed it to me. I was puzzled by this until I saw him pull out a tube of graphite powder. I stuck the pick gun in my pocket. 

It was generally used to de-ice frozen locks or unstick frozen locks. I never would have thought to bring this stuff. He squirted nearly the entire contents of the tube on each of the hinges to the door. I assumed the idea was that the smoother the metal friction, the less noise. That wasn't the intended use for the powder but it was worth a try. He eased the door open. It's slight creak sounded like a shot in the silence of the barn and he froze. I trained my weapon on the door to the tack room but it seemed we were still undetected. 

He slipped into the stall while I glanced nervously between him and the door. He touched the huddled form I could barely make out on the floor and arms began to thrash wildly and hit at Mulder. He grunted softly but was otherwise quiet. He backed off and looked at me, shaking his head in the negative and indicating we should trade places. For some reason the girl didn't want Mulder to touch her. If Lockhart had tortured her, I could understand her fear of being touched by any man. Mulder slipped out, turning sideways. He had only opened the door enough to admit the width of this body. He drew his weapon and took up my place as I holstered my weapon and slipped inside. 

I took a chance and pulled my small pen light out of the inside pocket of my trench coat and pressed the end, lighting it up and shining it under my chin so that she could see that I was woman. I could not made out her face. I reached tentatively to touch her shoulder. She shuddered but lay still, then slowly raised her arms. Her hands were bound at the wrists with a strip of nylon. I put my pen light in my mouth and pulled out my knife. As I bent down to cut the nylon, she cringed and I looked up, shining the pen light at her face, and swallowed a gasp. It wasn't a girl! It was a young boy, maybe 10 years old, with longish brown hair down to his shoulders and wide dark eyes. Panic was evident in every line of his face. I quickly cut the nylon strip. He rolled onto his back and lifted his feet. They were similarly bound and he was wearing no shoes. I cut those restraints, pocketing my knife and my pen light. Then I motioned to him and held my arms out to him. 

He launched himself into my arms, wrapping his arms around my neck. His entire body was quivering with fear. His legs had scraped in the straw when he lurched into my arm. That sound had been heard. Mulder crouched in to a squat as the man appeared in the doorway. He hollered in the general direction of the stall, never looking at Mulder. "Quit your thrashing around out there you little tramp. I know you're impatient and I'm almost ready for you. The daemons have been called. I have to give them honor and then we'll get started." 

He turned back into the room. Mulder nodded at me in the gloom and I carefully rose, pulling on one of the boys legs. He took the hint and raised his legs to wrap them around my waist. He hissed in pain. I didn't know what his injuries were, but I couldn't check that out right now. I had to get him out of here. Surprisingly, he didn't weigh as much as I thought he would. He was bone thin and shaking like a leaf. He was still a bit heavy though. I backed out of the stall with the child plastered to my chest, his head on my shoulder, and jerked my head toward the door. 

Mulder gave me a thumbs up and I moved toward the door. I was anxious to get him out but knew that if I moved too quickly I was in danger of making too much noise. 

Once I was outside the door, I made a break for it. He was too heavy for me to run with but I trotted as fast as I could to the house and slipped into the back door of the house into the kitchen. I deposited him in a kitchen chair. 

"Honey?" I whispered. 

He looked at me. "Jason," he whispered back. 

"Jason, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully with the FBI. That was my partner Fox Mulder out there. He won't hurt you, and neither will I." He nodded. He appeared eerily calm now and I knew he was going into shock. I grabbed his hand and led him into the living room. 

"Lay down on the couch." He did. I grabbed the dusty afghan off the back of the couch and covered him with it. "I'm going to call for more help, O.K.? I'm sorry but I have to leave you alone for a minute." 

He nodded. "S'okay," he whispered. "As long as you grab that maniac." 

I smiled. "We will, but I need to help my partner, O.K.?" 

"Go get him, lady." I patted his shoulder and pulled out my cell phone, dialing 911. 

<911 operator.>

"Hello, this is Special Agent Dana Scully with the FBI, Badge Number FGX573982. I need an ambulance immediately to come to the Lockhart Farm at 22 Calvert Road. I have an injured boy, suffering from exposure and I don't know what else. Also, please call Sheriff Cole and have him contact the other agents in town. He'll know what I mean and get him and all his deputies out here. Got all that?" 

<Yes, how old is the boy?>

"I don't know, approximately ten years old." 

"I'm thirteen," he croaked out. 

"Sorry, he's thirteen, but about 4' 11", approximately 75 pounds, small for his age." 

<They're on their way agent.>

"Oh, and tell the ambulance and cops, no lights and sirens. We are trying to apprehend a suspect." 

<You got it, Agent. Over and out.>

I clicked off my cell, patted his shoulder and ran out of the house heading back for the barn. My fear had slackened in the house, but I felt my heart rate go up again as I approached the barn. Then I heard the muffled grunt that sounded from inside the room. 

I drew my Sig and trotted to the door, pressing my back to the wall and carefully peered inside. I didn't see anyone right away. But then two bodies hit the floor, several feet from the door. I swung the doors wide to let in more moonlight. 

Mulder's face was red with blood, pouring from a wound on his forehead. He kneed the guy in the stomach and leaped to his feet, swiping his arm over his eyes to get the blood out of them. I nearly screamed. "Freeze, asshole, FBI." I pointed my weapon at his head as he turned in surprise to see me. Mulder stumbled toward the back of the barn and then I saw what he was doing. He bent to retrieve his weapon which had been knocked from his hand. 

The man got slowly to his feet. "I said FREEZE." He chuckled a low grunting chuckle in the back of his throat. 

Mulder warned me, "He's got a knife, Scully." 

He sneered at me, grabbing his crotch. "I've got lots more than a knife, cutie. Oh, you're a scrumptious one, older than I usually like, but I'm not that fussy." 

I hissed, "Move and you'll be sorry." 

He smiled. Mulder now had his weapon on the guy. "There's nowhere to go Lockhart. Give up or you're going down, right here, right now." 

He took a step toward me and I re-aimed my weapon. "Don't move!" 

"I like 'em feisty. I love it when they scream and fight and beg for mercy. Seems you're just the type." 

I heard Mulder issue another warning, his voice low and casual, considering the circumstances. "Lockhart, you have no idea who you are dealing with. My partner will have you unconscious on this floor and missing your balls before you can lunge at her." 

Lockhart spun his head around and looked over his shoulder at Mulder. "Know her well, do you?" 

"Drop the knife, Lockhart, it's over." 

"Not by a long shot." He turned and whipped the large six inch blade at my chest. 

Mulder screamed, "Sccuulllyyy!" 

I saw his arm wind back as he shouted, "Happy Halloween, Bitch!" I dropped into a squat and tipped back onto my ass and threw my torso to the floor. My hat slid off my head and my hair fell loose and into my eyes. The knife sailed over my body and stuck nicely into the wall. He's good at that, I thought mildly. I brushed the hair out of my eyes and then I saw him advancing on me. No thought went into it as the fizzle of fear snaked through me at the site of the large man bearing down on me, smiling like a lunatic. My weapon came up in one hand and fired. Through the haze of my fear I heard the crack of another shot. 

My bullet slammed into his left shoulder and Mulder's slammed into his right shoulder from behind. The impact of both bullets spun him in tracks. He spun 360 degrees bellowing in pain and surprise as he dropped to his knees. He looked up at me totally bewildered. His eyes closed and opened again. I watched as they rolled back into his head and he slumped sideways onto the floor as he passed out. I holstered my weapon. 

I was attempting to stand when I heard the clicking of handcuffs as Mulder cuffed his hands behind his back despite the fact that he was bleeding copiously from both shoulders. large frame straddled my legs, grabbed me up around the waist and lifted me to my feet. He crushed me to his chest, breathing heavily. "Holy shit," he whispered. 

I looked up. "Mulder, you're hurt. Your face is covered in blood." 

"It's looks worse than it is. He nicked my forehead with that blade, just the tip, but you know how a head wound bleeds, even a small one." 

"Let's get you inside. I want to check on the kid." 

"We need to do something with him first." Just then, two cruisers came sliding into the driveway. We waited in the door as they sprinted across the lawn, their faces alight with excitement. 

It was Sheriff Cole and his four deputies. The Sheriff looked at Mulder with his bloody face and me with straw in my hair. "You guys are hurt." 

"Just Mulder. I'm O.K. Lockhart is inside. He's shot in both shoulders and cuffed." 

"Whoa. O.K." 

I looked at him wearily. "I'll explain everything later." 

"Hey, no problem. We'll get him outside. We have two ambulances on the way." 

"Two?" 

"I asked for another one just in case. When the dispatcher told me that you were trying to apprehend a perp, I figured someone might get hurt. It takes a while to get out here, so better safe than sorry." 

"You got here pretty quick." 

He flashed a smile. "We burned rubber, Mock 2 with our hair on fire!" 

Mulder and I both laughed. "I need to get him inside Sheriff and check out this knick on his head." 

"Yes, ma'am. You do that. We'll take care of Mr. Lockhart till the ambulance and your colleagues get here." 

"Thanks Sheriff." 

Mulder and I held onto each other and went to the house. We had the excuse of his injury and so it wouldn't look strange in this situation. I turned on the kitchen light and sat him in a chair in the living room and scooted in the living room, turning on the light in there. The kid was fast asleep. Exhaustion and fear had caught up with him and he had succumbed to sleep. Good for him. I shut the light off and returned to the kitchen. I went back into the kitchen. 

"How is he?" Mulder asked. 

"He's sleeping." 

"How long ago did you call?" 

"I don't know. About a half hour I guess. Fortunately, I don't think he's hurt too bad, physically that is. He's just banged up and scared shitless. The mental scars are going to be the tough ones." I opened the small first aid kit I had brought and pulled out some antiseptic and a wet cloth. I cleaned him up as best I could and put some butterfly bandages to hold the cut closed and covered it with gauze, taping it down. 

He smiled a sad smile. "Nice to catch one in time for a change, huh?" 

"Well, he got to about 50 others before we caught on." 

"Yeah, but Scully, try not to think of it that way. We just saved that little boy in there by being here tonight." 

I smiled. "Yeah, we did. It does feel good." 

"That's why we do this, you know? I mean, that's why I started doing it originally. I knew I couldn't save the world, but I thought, 'if I can help just one person now and then, save one person now and then, it will be worth it.'" 

"I thought the same way." 

"I lost that somewhere along the way." 

"Idealism takes a dive once you grow up and get out in the real world for a while." 

"I don't know how much idealism I ever had, but I used to have more motivation and more righteousness about the fact that what I was doing was right." 

I sat down at the table with him to wait. "Righteousness will only get you so far, then it will get you killed." 

He chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." 

"By the way, thanks for taking him down." 

"As it turns out, you would have taken him down yourself." 

"It was a near thing. What happened before I got out there anyway?" 

"I tried to sneak into the room but he heard me as I got to the door and threw an Athame at me. 

"Athame?" 

"One of those ornamental knives with a blade on both sides. They are used in rituals." 

"He must have practiced knife throwing." 

"Yeah. I ducked but he only missed me by a hair's breath. Then he lunged for me and grabbed my wrist and beat the gun out of my hand against the wall and kicked it out of the room into the main part of the barn. The guy was quick for a big guy and incredibly strong." 

He grabbed his knife from the wall and it was enough for me to twist out of his grip and leap into the main part of the barn where there was more room. There were candles burning in that room and straw on the floor. I didn't want the place to go up like a fucking roman candle if one of those candles tipped over. 

"I'm surprised you were able to think about that at all." 

"You're forgetting my fear of fire." 

"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot." 

He smirked at me. "Fear and paranoia can be a good thing, Scully. I keep telling you that." 

I shook my head in exasperation at him. "Only you could joke about it." 

"Better than crying about it." 

Just then we heard the ambulance pull in and I rose to meet them at the front door. The came in with a stretcher and gathered up the little boy. He woke and was breathing quickly, his fear instantly returning. I smoothed his hair away from his face. "Jason, it's O.K., these are the paramedics. They are going to take you to the hospital and have you checked out, O.K.?" 

"I'm O.K." 

"I know, but better safe than sorry. We want to make sure and get you some salve for those nylon burns on your wrists an ankles, O.K.?" 

"I guess so." 

"Jason, can we call your parents?" 

He looked at me and began to cry. I leaned over the stretcher and hugged him to me. "Shhh, its O.K. Where can I find them?" 

"They live in Richmond," he sobbed. 

"Virginia?" Wow, he was a long way from home. Another one across state lines. 

"They are going to be so mad. I ran away." 

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, standing up and forcing a smile onto my face. "I'll talk to them O.K.? I'll make sure they understand and maybe you can work things out with them." 

"O.K." 

"I'll come by and see you in the hospital. What's your last name and phone number." 

I pulled my little pad out and wrote it down. "Kevin and Julia Kronen, 802-576-0052." 

"O.K., hang in there." They wheeled him out and I held one of the paramedics back. 

"I'm not sure that he wasn't sodomized either by the perp or with some sort of ... foreign object. Have the ER call in a rape counselor to talk to him and check it out." 

"Sure thing, Agent, thanks." She saluted and trotted after the others. 

Mulder appeared and hugged me to him again. I whispered, "God, the kids are the worst." 

"I know, I know," he cooed, patting my hair and comforting me. This is the position we were in when Simpson and crew burst through the door in a flurry. 

"Where are they? Oh!" he said as he spotted us. I lifted my head off Mulder's chest and he smirked at us. 

"Well, aren't we cozy?" 

Mulder's voice was a near deadly growl. "We just took down a mad man, with no help from you I might add. And now we watched them take an innocent 13 year old boy out of here that will probably never recover from being mentally tortured. It was a little upsetting. And if I want to comfort my partner, then that's damn well what I'm going to do. And if you have a problem with that, go fuck yourself, Simpson!" 

He paled. "Sorry." 

I pulled away from Mulder, patting his arm to calm him down. "Later, Mulder, its O.K." He deflated and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, then dropped his arms. 

"The Sheriff reemerged at this point. "Look folks, it's nearly 4:00 AM, what say we let Agents Mulder and Scully go back to the hotel and get cleaned up and we'll hit the paperwork pile tomorrow." 

I nodded. "That would be great. Simpson can take over from here. We'll be sure to file a full report tomorrow on what happened here." I looked at Simpson. "Besides, Agent Mulder had a head wound and he should be resting right now instead of arguing with anyone." 

Simpson looked at the ground, chagrined. We were both exhausted but I knew his wound wasn't that bad. But there was no harm in playing it up to make Simpson feel like a jerk. Plus, I didn't want him starting any rumors about Mulder and me. There were enough floating around already. But now they would be true and that somehow made it more risky. 

He finally spoke up again. "You guys get out of here. You did a good job. I wished you'd told us, we could have come out here with you." 

Mulder looked at him. "Six agents out here would have made more noise than a busted chainsaw, Simpson." 

"Guess you're right. Looks like you'll get credit after all." 

I looked at him. "Simpson, I don't give a shit who gets credit. I'll tell him it was your idea for us to come out here tonight if you want me to." I really just wanted this guy to leave us alone. 

He looked up at me. I could see he was seriously considering it. Then realized probably that he would owe me one and that didn't sit very well with him. His shoulders slumped again. "No, forget it. You snagged the guy, it's your collar. Now get out of here while we do cleanup. We'll talk to you tomorrow." 

I nodded and we headed out to the car. I wondered idly if any of the other three agents every spoke. I laughed to myself, just glad that it was over. The Sheriff followed us out. The ambulance with Simpson had left already with the deputies in tow. They would be guarding him until he was released from the hospital and they could take him for booking. It was going to be at least an overnight, so our report could wait. 

I had a thought suddenly. "I wonder who the skin belonged to." 

The Sheriff spoke through the car window as we slid in and closed the doors. I was driving for once. "The skin was tested and turned out to be the sister, Henrietta. I never run across a sicker bastard in my whole life. Right here in my jurisdiction, right under my nose and I knew nothing about it." 

"Don't be too hard on yourself Sheriff," Mulder said. "These guys get away with this because they are clever, not because they are stupid. There is no reason for you to suspect him." 

"Yeah, well, I knew him from the bars in town. I'd dragged him out a couple times for being drunk and disorderly and sent him home, but I never arrested him. He was a lonely man and I didn't figure it was worth it. I'll know better next time. If he'd had a record, we might have caught on quicker." 

I looked up at him. "Yeah, well, live and learn." 

"Guess the house wasn't haunted after all, huh?" he teased. 

"Yes it was," I said. Mulder's head snapped up at that comment. 

"Scully?" 

"It was haunted by a mad man, gentlemen, one that hopefully will never hurt anyone ever again. We'll see you tomorrow, Sheriff. Happy Halloween." 

"It is now, thanks to you two. Happy Halloween, Agents. Good job, Agents, again. Can't thank you enough. At least that animal is off the streets." 

"You're welcome. Tomorrow then." I rolled up the window and pulled out onto the lonely dirt road. A couple of minutes later the exhaustion hit me. All the adrenaline and anger were gone. My reserves were used up. I sighed loudly and Mulder looked over at me. 

"Want me to drive?" 

"No, Mr. Head Wound, I DO NOT want you to drive." He chuckled. "Just talk to me and keep me company." 

"O.K." 

* * *

* * *

**PART 6 - NC-17**

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 69**  
**WEDNESDAY MORNING**  
**NOVEMBER 1, 2000 - 5:00 AM**

We were both too exhausted to even shower so we stripped and climbed into bed. Mulder spooned up behind me. 

"Good job tonight, Scully, with that kid." 

"Thanks." 

"He freaked when I touched him." 

"Yeah, well, don't take it personally. It was dark and I'm sure he couldn't tell that you weren't him. He was terrified." 

"I know, but he took to you O.K." 

"I'm female." 

"I couldn't believe you picked him up." 

"He was so scared, Mulder. His whole body was trembling. I knew he wouldn't be able to walk without making a racket. He could barely stand. He was so thin. I thought he was about 10 years old. He did get heavy by the time I reached the house though." 

"I'll bet. You're so good with children, Scully." He paused. "I'm so sorry that ..." 

"Don't say it Mulder. It's O.K." 

"Not really." 

"Well, I've accepted it. I can't change it. Let's just get some sleep." 

"Happy Halloween, Scully." 

"To you too. I love you, Mulder." 

"I love you too, Scully." I closed my eyes and fell asleep within minutes. 

* * *

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 69**  
**WEDNESDAY MORNING**  
**NOVEMBER 1, 2000 - 10:00 AM**

Mulder nudged me awake. "It's 10:00 o'clock, Scully." 

I groaned. "Oh wow, a whole five hours sleep." 

"I know but the sooner we do the reports the sooner we get out of here." 

"Hmm. O.K." I rolled out of bed and we showered together, behaving ourselves this time. We got dressed and grabbed some bagels and coffee on the way to the Sheriff's office. 

* * *

**POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**WEDNESDAY MORNING 11:30 AM**  
**NOVEMBER 1, 2000**

We spent the better part of the day filling out all the reports for the police, the FBI, the hospital. I told them I would send them a copy of the official FBI report for their files when I had it completed. At 4:00 PM, we left and went back to the motel, deciding to take one more night here. We were both exhausted. 

* * *

**MOTEL 8 - ROOM 69**  
**WEDNESDAY MORNING**  
**NOVEMBER 1, 2000 - 10:00 AM**

After another five hours of sleep, I awoke to feel a large finger lazily caressing the hollow between my ass cheeks. I sighed and moaned as I felt my nipples harden and arousal spike between my legs, moistening my insides. 

His hand slid up and cupped my breast, pinching my nipple and he slid his erection between my legs, rubbing back and forth, spreading my wetness between my thighs. "Oh, yeah," I murmured. 

It was still weird waking up to find someone else in the bed, but I could definitely get used to this morning sex thing. I was so relaxed when I first woke and it took nothing to get me excited. Of course, with Mulder, he never had to do much anyway and I was purring at his feet. I hoped it would always be that way. It was too soon to tell. 

I pushed my butt back into his hips, encouraging him to continue. His hand slid down between my legs and lifted my top leg, causing my low back to arch and my butt to tip into his hips. Without any guidance, he slipped into me from behind groaning into my ear. "Awww, yeah, that's good." 

He lazily thrust into me from behind and I easily met his thrusts. His head dipped down to suck on the side of my neck and I was shivering with excitement within a couple of minutes. When we finally needed to speed up, he slipped out of me, causing me to whimper in protest. He chuckled. "Up on your knees, Scully," he said gently. 

I had to reengage my brain to get my muscles to work but finally managed to clumsily prop myself up on all fours. But then remembering how good it had felt in the shower to be bent really far over and the deep penetration that it had allowed, I let my shoulders drop to the mattress. His warm hands cupped my ass and slid to my hips. He murmured, "You're ass is heart-shaped, it's so beautiful, Scully." 

"Glad you think so. Now get inside me, now!" 

He chuckled again. "In a hurry are we?" 

"Don't you dare leave me hanging you bully, you started this!" 

He brought himself to my entrance and slid inside quickly to the hilt. We both groaned. He began thrusting and was quickly slamming into me hard with long, deep strokes. One hand went between my legs and I began to furious swipe at my clit. We were both grunting with the effort to find the peak. 

I reached back once and slid my wet fingers over his balls and went back to my clit but that was enough for him. He shouted as he emptied inside me, "Oh, Oh, YEAH, Scuulllyyy! YEAH!" 

Feeling the warm spray inside me was enough. I pinched my clit and went sailing over the edge, feeling the temperature inside increase dramatically and an incredible surge of wetness and sensation as my orgasm rocked through me. He collapsed on top of my back, staying imbedded inside. He supported his weight on his elbows and kissed the back of my neck. 

Our breath finally came back. "You know what, Mulder?" 

"What, Scully?" 

I said facetiously, "It's a fucking shame we don't have any chemistry, you know it?" 

He broke out laughing, his stomach bouncing against my rear end. I smiled, loving to hear him laugh. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Scully." 

"Door swings both ways." 

Quietly he said, "Scully, I'm really Happy!" He sounded amazed as though it was a foreign feeling to him and I supposed it was. 

"I'm happy too, Mulder. We make an awesome team, on and off the field, don't you think." 

"Oh, yeah, I DEFINITELY think!" 

"Time to go home now." 

"Let's hit the shower again and then pack it in, G-Woman. The X-Files Wonder Team has wrapped up another one!" 

"Get off me you big lug." I teased. 

"Big lug?" 

"Yeah, but you're my big lug," I said as he rolled off me. I raised up on all fours and then leaned down to kiss him slowly and thoroughly. 

I was feeling mighty mischievous. He must have seen it on my face. "What are you thinking, you little minx?" 

I grinned. "I'm thinking that I can't wait to fuck you in my own bed." 

He guffawed and nearly choked on his laughter. "You're going to kill me, G-Woman. I'm not a young man anymore." 

"Well, see if you can keep up, O.K." 

"I think I need to start working out again," he said with a perfectly straight face. 

We both grinned then. "I love you, Mulder." 

"I love you too. Let's go home, Scully." 

"Your home or my home?" 

"Home is where ever you are." 

That comment made me misty. "My home, then." He smiled and we got up heading for another shower. This regular sex was sticky business but I was loving every minute of it. Life with Mulder as my man was definitely going to be interesting. Sticky but interesting. 

**THE END.**   
  


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